The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1899-06-03

military spirit which pervaded the air.
fought sham battles, he always INF
sisted upon personating "O1d lack, =
assigning the part Of Santa Anna toa
some one else, an apportionment Of
characters sometimes resulting in q!
amutiny.
/ One night one of the younger set,i
then a .'6-year-old,' ~ and not allowed tol
go with the big boys, recalls the fasci-'
nation which his society had for him.
and the hair erecting stories Of theI
yellow-back variety with which het
sometimes RECALLED him. On certainl
memorable evening the smaller boy,l
stealing away from home at DUSK.
Joined young Dewey and two of hist
associates and accompanied them up a.
deep ravine to an old-fashioned saw.
mill, which they set in motion. the
double object thus accomplished being.
the seeing of ''the old thing shake,
itself to pieces and the securing of
days holiday for their friend, the mil
ler's son, by the suspension of opera
lions consequent upon draining the
pond.
The immense amount of snow which,
falls in the mountains and valleys of
New England and the large deposits Of
ice which form it's rivers make the
breaking up of winter in that far
| northern climate a period to which
every boy endowed with a spirit Of
adventure looks eagerly forward
Two small rivers, the Winooski and
! the Onion, come together in Montpelier
in such a way as to form the letter T,
and around this letter the town is
built. In the spring, when these streams
! are swollen by the melting SHOWS and
pieces of ice are hurried along by the
current, the boy who gets upon the
| smallest "cake'' which will bear his
weight standing often in water four
or five inches deep-and succeeds in
effecting landing upon the mass Of
pulverized ice, interspersed with huge
end-wise and criss-cross blocks, which
lodges six miles below, becomes the
hero of the hour
On such occasions young Dewey was
| in his element, leading the way in
| every daring enterprise and acquiring
! that hardihood and utter disregard of
! danger of which the victory at Manila
| was, the glorious outcome. 1t was
while guiding his ice raft past bridges
| and piers, over cross-currents formed
| by the influx Of lesser tributaries and
| around quick bends in the river, that
| he learned his first lessons in the
science of navigation.
what man has done, man can do"
was the motto which formed the pro-
polling power Of his young life, carry
ing him through every boyish under
taking. Who knows but that it may
have inspired his later achievements
as we'll?
| OF his experience at the Washington
| County grammar school in Montpelier.
the first educational institution which
he attended, much has already been
written. It's pupils, taught by first
one teacher and then another, had &C.
CURED the reputation of being rather
difficult subjects, and Dewey is said to
have taken an active part in the inl-
tiatory hazing to which each new prin-
cipal was subjected and to have been
the ring-leader in the revolts which
marked the remainder of his connec-,
ton with the school. =,
When the Hon. Zebina K. Pangborn.
ex-mayor of Jersey City, and now the
editor and proprietor of the Jersey City
Evening Journal, consented to take
charge of these refractory young peo-
pie at a salary Of s6.25 week, it was
with the determination to establish a
system Of discipline among them to
which they we're strangers. Dewey,
being the first to rebel, was made an
example of after the manner already
described.
1t is said that, meeting Maj. Pang-
born in washington two years ago, the
admiral told him that all that was
worthy of consideration in his char
acter had its beginning on that day.