The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1884-03-15
CHARCOAL SKETCHES.
MIR. ". II. KERR.

There are not half a dozen young men
in North Carolina who without capital are
as independent, or can be as useful, as
Mr. W. H. Kerr Independence is simply
ones ability to take care OF ones self.
And Mr.. Kerr is independent because
wherever in the civilized world he might
be placed without a dollar he could not
only earn his living without depending on
the favor of friends but could be of pos
tive service to society. All this not be-
cause he is in any way, so far as | know,
a man Of any extraordinary qualities, but
because he is that very convenient combi-
nat it ttiieeif74=>-an educated man. and man who
knows a trade, trade in the highest ana
proper sense of the word.
Mr.. Kerr spent his youth in Raleigh, his
father, Mr.. W. c. Kerr, lately State Geol-
Ogist, having lived here during those years.
After term of service at the Bingham
School, he went into the SwepsOn Cotton
Mills, on Haw River took his coat off, and
learned how to run the machinery-not in
theory, but with sOiled hands and in dead
earnest. Then he took his place at the
forge, at the vice, and at the anvil in the
repair shop; and whatever broke he
mended it. You can't learn anything ex-
cept by doing that thing.
Mr. Kerr went to Boston as a student Of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and in three years completed the four
years cOurse-which means that he had
received the most thorough technical
training that any American institution Of
work and learning can give. He found
himself then a scientific scholar-at least
as a young man may be called a scholar
and at the same time a practical ma
chinist, whose fingers knew the use of the
tools as well as his mind knew the prin-
! Piles of mechanics.
| He went from the Institute to Lawrence,
! where he did work in cotton mili-the
special class Of machinery OF which he
had made study. There he learned in a
practical way the use and the construction
Of every piece of machinery. He could,
without moments warning, take the place
Of any employee in the mill, from the
engineer and architect who built it to the
blacksmith who repairs it. Wherever in
| New England there were peculiar or pc
| culiarly intricate or novel mechineS fol
the working of cotton he went and studied
them.
Mr. Kerr, dare say, could make locl
or shoe a horse as well as any other smith
| -inded better than a man who is merely
a smith ; and if there were an uncommon
demand for horse-shOers, or a fortune tt
be made by it, he would do it. Or ht
could construct cotton mill and adjus
everything to a scientific niceity, and con
duct it when adjusted.
His residence in New England has give1
him an unconscious New England manner
and tone of voice, which, however, does no
conceal the Carolina frankness and heart
mess. He has a kind Of jaunty indie
pendence in his walk and conversation
and without being foolish about it h
shows good deal of pride in the skill hi
hands have been trained to, and in hi
practical knowledge of things-all whicl
is the very best basis for the very best bal
anced enjoyment of literature, if he like
1t is likely that Mr.. Kerr will make hi
home in North Carolina. He can live an(
command work and wealth Gf he b
shrewD any where. He is, fancy, one o
the few men among us who wouldn't b
Governor if he could