Random Reminiscences of Men and Events | Page 9

but we
have made some successful experiments with bass wood, and one of
these we have moved three times without injury. Birches have
generally baffled us, but evergreens, except cedars, have been almost
invariably successfully handled.
This planning for good views must have been an early passion with me.
I remember when I was hardly more than a boy I wanted to cut away a
big tree which I thought interfered with the view from the windows of
the dining-room of our home. I was for cutting it down, but some other
members of the family objected, though my dear mother, I think,
sympathized with me, as she said one day: "You know, my son, we
have breakfast at eight o'clock, and I think if the tree were felled some
time before we sat down to table, there would probably be no great
complaint when the family saw the view which the fallen tree
revealed."
So it turned out.
CHAPTER II
THE DIFFICULT ART OF GETTING
To my father I owe a great debt in that he himself trained me to
practical ways. He was engaged in different enterprises; he used to tell
me about these things, explaining their significance; and he taught me
the principles and methods of business. From early boyhood I kept a
little book which I remember I called Ledger A--and this little volume
is still preserved--containing my receipts and expenditures as well as an
account of the small sums that I was taught to give away regularly.
Naturally, people of modest means lead a closer family life than those
who have plenty of servants to do everything for them. I count it a
blessing that I was of the former class. When I was seven or eight years

old I engaged in my first business enterprise with the assistance of my
mother. I owned some turkeys, and she presented me with the curds
from the milk to feed them. I took care of the birds myself, and sold
them all in business-like fashion. My receipts were all profit, as I had
nothing to do with the expense account, and my records were kept as
carefully as I knew how.
We thoroughly enjoyed this little business affair, and I can still close
my eyes, and distinctly see the gentle and dignified birds walking
quietly along the brook and through the woods, cautiously stealing the
way to their nests. To this day I enjoy the sight of a flock of turkeys,
and never miss an opportunity of studying them.
My mother was a good deal of a disciplinarian, and upheld the standard
of the family with a birch switch when it showed a tendency to
deteriorate. Once, when I was being punished for some unfortunate
doings which had taken place in the village school, I felt called upon to
explain after the whipping had begun that I was innocent of the charge.
"Never mind," said my mother, "we have started in on this whipping,
and it will do for the next time." This attitude was maintained to its
final conclusion in many ways. One night, I remember, we boys could
not resist the temptation to go skating in the moonlight,
notwithstanding the fact that we had been expressly forbidden to skate
at night. Almost before we got fairly started we heard a cry for help,
and found a neighbour, who had broken through the ice, was in danger
of drowning. By pushing a pole to him we succeeded in fishing him out,
and restored him safe and sound to his grateful family. As we were not
generally expected to save a man's life every time we skated, my
brother William and I felt that there were mitigating circumstances
connected with this particular disobedience which might be taken into
account in the final judgment, but this idea proved to be erroneous.
STARTING AT WORK
Although the plan had been to send me to college, it seemed best at
sixteen that I should leave the high school in which I had nearly
completed the course and go into a commercial college in Cleveland for

a few months. They taught bookkeeping and some of the fundamental
principles of commercial transactions. This training, though it lasted
only a few months, was very valuable to me. But how to get a job--that
was the question. I tramped the streets for days and weeks, asking
merchants and storekeepers if they didn't want a boy; but the offer of
my services met with little appreciation. No one wanted a boy, and very
few showed any overwhelming anxiety to talk with me on the subject.
At last one man on the Cleveland docks told me that I might come back
after the noonday meal. I was elated; it now seemed that I might get a
start.
I