Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-11-06

II washington, d. c., Nov. Z, 1897
.,fv storyl doubt whether my story
ia worth the telling. I am certain it
a will interest few people, and there Is
q ,otbinr extraordinary in it."
The speaker was Gen. Russell A.
a A,ser. secretary of war, ex-governor
~ the United States army, one of the
largest lumber dealers Of the country.
We had been chatting OF success in life
and | had urged him to tell me the
4 story of his boyhood, saying there
were thousands of poor boys In the
a United States who were discouraged
AT the obstacles which they saw before
a them, and that word from him as to
4 his struggles might give them courage
N IN continue the fight. 1t was some
q time before l could persuade the sec
II rotary TO give me the story. He said
h # was not public matter, and II was
n only after my urging the above that
n he went on. He said:
h II doubt whether any boy who is
n starting life today has worse out
h look than / had. l was born in a log
II cabin in Medina county, Ohio. My
Il father was poor pioneer farmer. He
Il was an unucky man. and for some
reason or other nothing he touched
4 seemed to prosper. When he settled
in Ohio the state was an almost un-
II broken wilderness. lie took up
tract of woodland and cleared por-
ton Of 1t, but he did not do well. At
4 I'd no hn nF
4 MILL This did not succeed, and he
Il finally died when was about twelve
| years old. leaving four children and
\ nothing to support them. At times,
in 1917, we had but little to eat, and
/ remember one dreary period when
both father and mother were sick for
months in the same bed. Soon after
| this mother died, and 1t was not long
before father followed her to the
grave. | had sister who was older
than |, but there were two others who
We're younger, and l was, you know,
but twelve, For a time | worked for
a nelghbor, receiving three teacups
-four day, and this formed the food
Of the family. We had cow, and
with the milk from this we made
what we called thickened milk. We
had, ] remember little corn In the
house. My sister and shelled a bag
Of this, and | carried 1t on my back
to mill nine miles away, and there
traded II for meal. / walked to the
mill and back. II was eighteen miles.
hut | do not remember that i was
worn out by the trip"
n HOW ONE BOY GOT HIS SCHOOL,
ING.
H "a boy of twelve does not amount
d do "'''" Sa'a l. "ha' could you
ID y could not do much, replied Gen.
eral Alger, but / was head OF the
family and felt i must do something.
n First i found homes for my younger
brother and sister. and then arranged
70 work for my board and clothes and
TOT three months schooling during the
winter did this until was fourteen,
when my older sister died. / then
thought I ought to be worth more.
and hired out TO farmer who paid me
Is month for the first month, 81 for
n the second and IS for the next four
months. The next year he gave me
y month, the next SO. the third So,
the fourth $40, the fifth Sl2, and the
sixth and seventh years SIS month.
These were great wages In those days
II Tor farm hands. We had no reapers
Fl or mowers then, and all work was
4 done by hand.
B All Of this time" the secretary con-
unued. II went to school part of the
year got the idea when / was very
II young that must have an education
II ] expected to do anything in the
HI world. So. after time, | worked
Il only six months OF each year and went
70 school the other six. While at
Il school worked for my board morn
II ,hss' evenings, and Saturdays l re-
member ! worked one winter In
placksmiths shop, where 1 used the
+ hammer and acted as helper. |
grew NpFV fnniHlv and xuhan I
egII young boy could do the work
OF man. At nineteen / was six feet
Il ai ana weighed 1G0 pounds"
SECRETARY ALGER AS A FARM
HAND.
n Then you spent your vacations on
iarm. General Alger," said l.
Fl Yes, l hired out, as have said, for
nali OF each year to farmer, and kept
nus up seven years. That was my only
II Vacation have little account
oook at home which contains all the
nayments which my employer made
,he. lie charged me for every hour
,Dst curing working days, and also for
Fl Sefything he gave me outside of my
meals / remember once ! had two
halters stolen while / was at a min
n setting some grinding done. l was
..hharged twelve shillings for them, and
n MIs was deducted from my wages.
WI long ago one of my boys came into
~ oIHce AT Detroit with a bill Tor
.Iess suit. The bill amounted, think,
70 go. As l paid It told him how I
nau worked for two years when a boy
B a 1ur less than what he had paid for
II But, general. these wages seem to
wv, w very low. Were you good work.
ann ruh Did you receive as much as the
average hand?"
,o me secretary OF war looked at me
,stner curiously for Il moment and
a rn es SAID: u was considered very
svoa hand. Physically, ! was very
cons' ! remember that there was n
r soiH,n'ty store in the village of Rich
A, where / was attending school.
Inc pack of the store there was
room in which SCRAP iron was stored.
MI u our amusements was seeing
which boy could lift the most. we
II vtyulu take board about two feet
n,'ue by two and one-h half long and lay
across glass box. We would pile
MN, mn upon the board until we had as
s s,uGh as we thought n man could lift,
80 men one of us would bend over.
NJ catching hold of the opposite ends
I,. we board. try to raise It. | could
more than any of my fellows, and
nave at times lifted 600 pounds in
,na,,. way j remember that could
ona, faster with scythe than any
M ! knew, but this was more due To
~. imam to strength. 1t was ali i'm
Sheath S'''"e vi 'he
sECRETARY ALGER'S FIRST
NEWSPAPER NOTICE.
remember" said Secretary Alger