The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-22

thing must be done or imprisonment
might result. So that night she went
To the laird without her husband 5
knowledge. and on her Bonded knees
begged for clemency, promising as
speedy evacuation of the premises as
possible without legal contest of any
sort. if only there should be no prose-
cution. 1t took a long time TO move
the angered laird, but he finally relent-
ed. and six weeks later the family en-
barked on the old ship Brooksby for
the United States, where two of Mrs
Henderson's sisters were living.
The trip lasted many weeks. David
was only years old then, but he re-
members the stormy voyage as if it all
happened last week.
A BUSY CHILDHOOD.
The Hendersons struggled slowly to
Chicago. When they reached that
place Thomas Henderson had just one
British sovereign Qess than So left Of
the money he had realized from the
sale of his effects in Scotland with
which to begin life anew.
George Kerr, nephew of Mrs. Hen
dersOn, met the party at Chicago TO es-
cort them farther on their way. The
young man had brought along two COW
cred wagons. In them the newcomers
finished their travels. Wasting no
time in idle repinings, Henderson
buckled manfully to his task. In less
than four years he and his sturdy boys
had established themselves so we'll that
they were able to buy a big tract of
Government land in Fayette county, in
the northeasternmOst corner of Iowa,
and there they settled and spread out,
after genuine American pioneer fash
ion. They named their new home
Pleasant Prairie, but their neighbors
wouldn't have it so. They renamed it
Henderson's Prairie, and so it is known
to the present day.
1t would be hard to conceive of a
buster boys life than that of David B.
Henderson in the log home built by his
father. The whole country abOunded
with wild game and the streams were
full of fish, but the yOungster had no
time to hunt or play the angler. Daily
in the summertime, unless it rained
it was his duty to begin work before
sunrise and continue until after sun
set. On rainy days, and in the winter
time he read and studied, in the years
between and IS mastering Shakes
peare, Milton and other English elias
sizes. On Sundays he went to Church.
His only amusementS were athletics,
and he was champion wrestler Of the
entire region. Through this the course
of his life was changed almost as COM
pIeteIy as the episode with the dead
Earl of Buchan's younger brother had
changed the circumstance of his father.
HOW He WENT TO COLLEGE.
1t came about in this way: When
the youngster was 16 or II a stranger
who had heard Of David's prOWess as a
wrestler visited Henderson's Prairie
for the purpose of trying conclusions
with him. The stranger was taller and
heavier than his bOyish opponent. but
Henderson threw him repeatedly, the
stranger finally admitting that the boy
was the better man. Finally the stran-
ser said that if he could have what was
called the right hand under hold he
would try again. 1t was against ali
precedent to give an opponent such an
advantage, the left hand going with the
under and the right hand with the up
per hold, but Henderson consented
and, after long struggle, the stranger
got the ''trip-lock," the boy was
thrown, his right wrist being dislo-
Gated and one Of the bones Of the fore
arm broken. The doctor called to look
after the injury failed to discover the
fracture. The fracture healed slowly,
and young Henderson was sent to
Rockford, H., where another surgeon
could be consulted.
David was able to do no manual la
Dor for a long time, and it was while
he was thus incapacitated that serious
thought was taken of college course.
Before he went to college, however, he
taught a term of school in his home
district.
General Henderson looks back upon
that summer as one Of the most enjoy
able in his whole career. Never before
had he been able to devote his entire
time to intellectual pursuits, and he
read and studied with an enthusiasm
that helped him to make wonderful
progress.