New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-04

the extraordinary good fortune which the allen
may hope to find shores If he brings
with him intelligence and a capacity for hard
work When Henry Willard. the son of Gustav
Leonhard Hilgard, a Bavarian. came to Amer
Tea in 1853 being then in his eighteenth year.
the outlook for him seemed gloomy enough. Il
utterly destitute of money" he says, had
but limited supply Of wearing apparel, and
that not suited to the approaching cold season.
and ! literally did not know single person in
NewYork or elsewhere in the Eastern States TO
whom / could apply for help and counsel To
crown all. I could not speak word OF English"
Before he died in 1900 he had made one fortune.
lost il. and made another. The story Of his life
IS a record of slow but steady progress in OBJ
scurer paths OF activity of more rapid advance
in journalism, and then Of great strides in
finance leading to very high position. 1t
does not exhibit character strongly colored
by any professional aspirations at the outset,
and developed thereafter along settled lines.
The young German seems to have turned his
face westward simply with the vague idea of
lettering himself AT home the law studies TO
which he had been committed by his father had
proved unattractive to provoke rebellion.
and since the elder Hilgard had never treated
him otherwise than sterny." the idea Of proceed
ing to America was hailed as offering the best
way out OF an intolerable situation. 1T was his
intention 10 work hard there and TO show his
parents and sisters that he could make an hon
orable career for himself by his own endeavors,
and this he later thought could be furthered by
q change OF name" It was gather. as Henry
Willard and not as Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav
HIgard that he began life in this country.
The opening pages of his autobiography give
q vivid picture OF the German lad looking for
work in the New-York of fifty years ago. He
looked IN vain. with borrowed money In his
pocket. 1T tried" he says. ito get a place as
helper in a drug store or restaurant, and finally
even as q waiter in a beer hail." but even these
humble pursuits closed to him by his
obvious 'igreenness," and he waited with anX
ious heart for reply to the letter he had writ
ten to kinsfolk in Illinois. 1t came at last. and.
though the writer was not encouraging in his
remarks, he inclosed a draft for $50 and, having
paid the debt he had contracted, Willard started
West. The journey hard one. but harder
experiences We're in store for the young emf
grant In Indiana, for example. he worked as
a member Of the crew of a wood train on the
Indianapolis and Madison Railroad. In Chicago
he YEARLY walked from intelligence office
to another looking for employment, without
success. Fortunately, his relatives in Beeville
about this time came to the rescue. and he went
to live with them. doing such farm work pre-
sented itself He was happy under these cir
cumstances but naturally continued to watch
for some more promising opportunity. He
dertook clerical tasks in the Office of the Circuit
Court clerk at Carlyle. and had his first glimpses
Of Western American lawyers. He thus de-
scribes the semi-annual session of the court:
formal way in which the proceedings were carried
on There was an abandon as regarded manners.
too that could not but shock me. accustomed as
] was to the dgnifed ways of German courts.
srsgment as If beI beeIs5 taTgeIas 70 he IN
q
held during very hot spell in June. The judge
presided without his coat and with unbuttoned
shirt thrown wide open He sat thus disarrayed.
tipped back IN his armchair, with his legs on the
desk before him. The attorneys naturally followed
his example and made themselves as cool pos
my mind While one of the most Ioouscions at
torneys was making a fiery argument. he was in
s J you d had g,[o better keep COO in this hot
The pleader stopped pulled out his plug and
nee 1t TO the Judge. who took a hasty bite, where
upon the proceedings we're resumed.
He never could quite reconcile himself to the
crudities OF American life in the SOS and COS
His cistaste for them crops out again and again.
Perhaps it was natural for these phases of his
experience TO leave a lasting Impression; he
worked necessarily, and for a long time without
serious results. From the law. which for a time
he thought OF following a career, he turned
to politics and Journalism. In 1856 he got up
colonization plan. hoping to settle, with other
Germans. large tract in Kansas, but this
led 70 nothing more interesting than a meeting
with Stephen A Douglas. who told him that his
mission TO Washington in support Of the scheme
was absolutely hopeless" Forthwith he I'M
dertook to edit the 'Volksblatt'' at Racine in
the interests of the Republican committee.
When the Democrats triumphed. the paper
ceased to be of any use, and he was again
driven 70 seek employment. He stormed the Of
fees OF the great New-York newspapers, but
with so little success that he obliged to
labor school teacher among the Pennsyl-
vania Dutch. The task not a heavy one in
ITSELF but the free board" TO which he was
entitled was only to be had by his living in rota-
ton at the homes of his pupils and how pleas
ant that experience was can be gathered from
this sketch OF the people among whom he was
thrown:
As rule. my hosts kindly disposed and
treated me to the best they bad; but their coarse
fare. crude manners and primitive domestic ar
STAYED with were ali descended from the pooTest
and most degraded class OF peasants, who had emil
fnce a century previous They brought with them
their domestic habits and had stuck TO them ever
fare. beverages, furniture, utensils and domestic
practices generally ali but identical with those
Of the peasantry OF the Palatinate at that very
time found dishes on their tables that are not
on and under feather beds~and, aiasi had 70 sub
NIT 10 these, too-just the peasants OF the Paa-
the stores for lounging purposes and smoking was
not wanting. OF course, these people had been
as their parents had had the advantage of the gen
orally civilizng results OF life in America, but
hosts were. almost without exception, sadly igno-
rant, narrow and low. To be obliged TO eat at
table and 10 spend the evening hours and free days
with these people. and 10 be obliged sleep in the
same room with the male farm help, was anything
but an agreeable necessity.
In occupations of this sort Willard spent his
first five years in America In 1858 he entered