The times., 1899-06-25
ALL KNEW DEWEY
J In BOYHOOD DAYS
An Army of Schoolmates That
Constantly Increases.
All Lived in Vermont, But Emf.
grated to Other States.
Nearly Every Man Ready with mn
AnecdOte of the Admiral When
in His Teens.

| the century. Not a day passes but a hun
| dred or more men come reluctantly TO the
| front, and, with modesty and hesitant de-
! meanor. admit that they went to school
with Dewey. Those who did not go 10
| school with him lived next door to him.
Do these men realize how they are taxing
| the elasticity of the State of Vermont? A
State has certain metes and bounds and is
not like a rubber overshoe. You can some
times squeeze No. 9 foot into a No.
oyershoe but you cannot put 10000 men
| into space sufficient for only 5000, because
they are not telescopes or pie plates. By
the way, the tin pie plate is a most re-
| markably scientific anomaly. Take doz-
en- tin pie plates all the same size. and you
can put one into the other. and the one
on top remains no larger and no smaller
than the one on the bottom. This is a
problem that has long puzzled the best
| paid sayants of the country. That is the
way it is about George Dewey's schoolboy
friends and college chums. Either Ver-
mont was much larger when Dewey was a
| boy. or men and boys took up much less
room than they do now. Perhaps Vermont
| has shrunk SO gradually since then that no
one has noticed it. A good geographer
| could make a hit by discovering this fact
and writing about 1t for the magazines.
| There is not town In the country SO
| mean and small and despised that it has
not its share OF Dewey's schoolmates. 1t
| is weli-known fact that the school Dewey
patronized was the largest in the world.
| There exists no photograph Of the school
house, but a trustworthy architect, who is
greatly interested in the matter, has re-
constructed the school. basing his calcula-
| tions upon the number of men who, as
| boys, occupied the room right next to
| Dewey's. He has made sketch OF the
building. based on these figures. It is
| fourteen stories high. 2S0 feet long by lis
| feet wide. 1t is estimated that Dewey oc-
cupied at the same time 1862 rooms to
accommodate the boys who roomed next
/ to him, foreseeing that some day he would
| be great man. Besides this Dewey oc
| cupied 1923 rooms with roommates who
have since blushingly admitted the fact.
1t is said that Dewey became famous that
he might not disappoint the friends OF his
| boyhood, who had so laboriously and at
| great expense prepared themselves to have
been his schoolmates when they grew old.
This is valuable lesson for all boys to
remember; be great, and you will always
| have plenty of schoolmates. There Is no
such spur to future greatness as to go to a
| large school where you are bound to have
a great many companions. And another
thing to remember is, always do a great
many things that will serve for future an
ecdotes. The boy who does not do anec-
dotal things can never expect to be sue
cessfully great man. 1t was largely due to
anecdotage that Dewey sank the Spanish
| fleet in Manila Bay. When he stood on the
bridge of the Olympia he said to himself:
Steady. George, there are all those anec-
| dotes behind you. Do not forget that you
had schoolmates" Then, aided by the war
| correspondents, he went in and won the
| fight before and after breakfast, thus show
| ing that he remembered his youthful train
ing and his commendable habit of prepar-
ing anecdotes as he went along.
When n man becomes great, enterprise
| ing editors, knowing that he has prepared
| large number of anecdotes in his youth
and distributed them around among his
family and schoolmates, send out and
gather them in. 1t happens very often
that they do not have to send out. One
by one the men TO whom the anecdotes
were entrusted remember their RESPONSE
| bility and bring them in to the editor.
Sometimes the anecdotes get into circula-
| tion by the drawing out of an old school
mate when he drops into the store of an
evening. When he sits astraddle of the
sugar barrel and eats evapoTated peaches
he can gradually be persuaded to confess
| that he went to school with Dewey at
Montpelier or Pomfret or Chittenden or
Johnson or Rutland or Northfield or Bel
lows Falls, wherever he happened to be
| from. A great many are discovered in that
way Sometimes the wife of schoolmate
writes her husbands "reminiscences of
Dewey and sends them to the Ladies'
Own Companion"
Vermont used to have a remarkable pop
ulation. OF late years it has mysteriously
| fallen off, and the reason has only recently
been suspected. Dewey's schoolmates have
moved out West. The density of poula-
I ri IN, ic A IN ba
square mile, and there is plenty OF room
to breathe. Before Dewey's schoolmates
moved away it used to be like a crowd in
front of a newspaper Office on the night
of a big prizefght.
Yes" said Eleazor Polk, 81 remember
George well. l always call him George,
you know. l got letter from him not
long ago, written just twenty-eight min
utes before he went into action at Vanilly
I'd show you the letter, but my wife lent
it to the neighbors and it got passed
around until it was wore out and never
come back. l mind George well. l used
to room next to him when he went to
| school at Paddlebury. He was not much
for style in them days. He knew he was
goin to be Admiral some day and used
to dress the part. He was a small, peckled
boy with yellow hair and used to make up
to the gals right smart. The gals all liked
him, too, because they knew he was so,n'
to be a great man some day. My, but he
was full OF pranks, was Georgei
II always call him George. My, my,
1 mind once he played trick on teacher.
One night he carried COW up into the
belfry of the school and tied her with the
bellrope and she rung the bell all night
and made the folks think there was a
ghost up there so that they dassent go
near the school until mornin'. Gracious
me, but George was a great boyi But he
was timid boy and wouldn't fight that's
why I'm so s'prised that he fit them Span
iards so hard at vanilly Bay. / always
call him George. 1 just can't help it. My,
but I'd like to see George right this min
ute" Mr.. Polk now lives at Stotsenburg
Ind. His valuable additional TO Deweyiana
will appear in book form later.
George Dewey. Did l know George?
Well. l reckon l did" said Laburnum Ii
tus of Crooked Creek, Kan. When | knew
him l roomed next door TO him at the Bel
lows Falls Academy. He was a short fell
low, with black hair, and he could fight
like the devil. | mind once that a big fell
low from Roebottom Corners stepped on
Georges foot and told him he was no sail
or. George was mighty proud in them
days. He says to me: Just watch me and
don't forget what l do. It'll come handy
some day With that he jumped onto the
big fellow and whipped him clean and
fair. and l amt ever forgot it. That noon
we put red pepper on the stove in school,
and you'd added laughing at the way ev-
erybody sneezed. George was the one that
put the pepper on the stove, for seen him
do it. Oh, I could sit here all night and
tell you OF the comical things George used
to do
Some OF the most interesting anecdotes,
however, come from Admiral Dewey's