Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-03-13
Early Life q asajanih F. VI


eBT GEN. JAMES g. BR1sBIN.
The mana of benjamin. It. Wade, Of
0lli9 hGa been q familiar one 20 the
lI2IT6 s1glg5 uab d DO ElEde nus 1t nt-
fraafsd 40 ESagaeis attention As az Tina 4
prssant moment Tho fact that Mr.
Sgagis--if Mr.. 8ohns0n is convicted Of
hiEh crimes and uliBden1eamDrs- will
auceee6 to the Presla Dental chair auder
circumstances sBch AZ never before hRB-
pened in the history OF the country, is 4
Of itself sufficient to make the people
desire to learn all they can Of the new
President.
B. r Wade was born at Feeding Hills
Parish, West Springfield, Mass achu-
sasta, on the 9th day. Of October, 1900,
and ds therefore in the siItY~eighbh year
Of his age. his father, eJames Wade,
was a soldier In the War Of the RevOlu-
ton, and fought ct Concord, and Lex
imgton, and Bunker Hill.a Hs WHs
made prisoner in one Of the battles, and
confined at Halifax for q long ltime.
HIS mother was the daughter Of3a Pres
byseEian Clergyman, and a woman Of
gnsst force oAcbaraoter and strength Of
mind. The venerable Senator often
s5Balzs Of his mother, dead long, long
ago, and his eye VIII brighten, and ais
voice grow soft with emotion Vet- when
he tells Of ssGhat New England mother"
His mother taught him 20 spell and
read, and having kept the small libra
ny of her father, BENJAMIN read the
dozen books through several times.
While his father was in the wax fighting
for the Independence Of his country
the good mother was 81 home taking
care Of the children. The fanilYs to use.
poorest in New England " and the
mother could barely ind enough food
and clothing for her children There
were ten children Of whom Benjamin
was the youngest and ugiiest. w lieu
Benjamin. 8 father returned home from
the war, he was broken iii heaMh and
spirits, and seemed to have lost all his
former energy and spriRhtl ltness, Benz
early soug gnB.to relieve his parents Of
the burden of keeping him, and lived
out among the farmers, doing Q ~ kinds
Of work for his boarding and Clothes;
When almost 8 young man, he worked
hard many g day for twenty-five and
fifty cents. tn the winter he tended
the farmers horses and cattle for his
board, and went to school, Often walk
ing several miles daily through the deep
snow. He was in the habit Il borrow
ing books and reading them Uhsough at
night, and early manifested q = great de-
sire to study, especially histor and the
Biographies of great men. We viii here
relate an anecdote Mr.. Wade, W hich will
serve to show what kind Of boy be was,
and point moral for our Ainerican
/ youth, he had borrowed a history Of
a farmer, and one evening leftit lay on
/ the window bottom, and the sash being
open, the wind blew the rain in during
i the night and ruined the book, Much
/ mortified, young Beujuntn next morn
/ ing went TO the farmer and told him
i what had happened, and. said thai, al
/ though he was too poor TO pay for the
i book, he was willing to work il ''ut.
j A bargain was made, and when The
season opened up, Benjamin. worked
i book. Mr.. Wade says the most diHicult
thing to solve, he ever met with, was
algebra. he was working on a farm
/ when he commenced studying it; F; he
/ had no one TO show him, and he read it
4 over fifty times without understanding
it, Oftens when following the pl0w he
/ thought for hours over the mysterious
signs and letters in the book, until they
seemed as large as the palm of his hand.
He looked at them so often they were
i constantly before his eyes, as ifthey were
i painted on canvas. but he could make
Il nothing out of them. Gradually he be-
gan to comprehend them, and no has
not forgotten to this day, the PROPOSE
tiOns ne then studied aud solved
i When about eighteen, Mr.. Wade came
/ to the conclusion that the East was a
p9or place for young man, aud deter
mined 70 seek his, fortune in the Far
4 West. After revolving the proposition
in his mind for two years, he hKed up-
Oh NAAABAts4g kAGAA z BA4AEaAA NAAAttt5ag rs gAAE
place for bis future residence. With
seven dollars in his pocket, q pack up
on his back, in which was his clothes,
and q stout stick, young Wade set out
on foot TO walk from Massachusetts to
Illinois, by way Of New York, for he
WAS determined to see the great city,
about which he had heard 40 much.
What must have been the feelings OF
the old Senator when, more than thirty
years afterwRrd, he, great, rich, sur
rounded by friends, was carried In Rild-
ed cars on special trains over the oOun-
4 try. and IA great PROFESSIONS, amid huz-
zahing thousands, through the streets
of tbs very cities where, when 3 boy, be
had trudged with his pack and stick.
God bless America, the poor boy'a
home God bless her for such exam
pies of human greatness, Our own dear
native land, where the humblest lad Il
be carries an honest heart ia his bosom
be may hops 20 rise 90 the highest hon
: oEa Of Ehe nation. ia
Mr.. Wade, after q tedious Journey
q Feaohed Asatabuln county, Ohio WherG
be had 8 brother living Here De was
persuaded 60 stop for 8 few weeks, and
the snow falling In the meantime, he