The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-03-29
An AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Secretary Shaw Tells Story Of
His Life
HE SOLD NURSERY STOCK
Interviewer Gets Secretary Shaw to
Tell OF His Earlier Days IN Iowa
and Crawford

story of his life will be of great inter
est to many although, the facts are
well Known to all the old timers of
/. crawford county.
why did l go to Iowa He re-
s;allled, when he sat down in his own.
ofI;css,s, We look back and see the
little turns nssin the road by which we
come and perceive Sna,S easily we could
have done something else GIN Hay
once told me that he remained at hondfI
one afternoon and met the woman who
became his wife. He was to take a
train at O'Clock, but missed it. A
friend met him. at 5 and invited him
to dinner-an expected guest could not
be present. Hay went, and was in
troduced to Miss Stone, daughter of
Amasa Stone, the Cleveland million
aire. Suppose he had caught his
train? Hay said the dinner, common
place incident, transformed his life.
~ was farmers boy in eastern
Vermont and was attending the Nor
risville academy. At the end of the
year there was the usual entertain
ment. was asked to deliver an ora
tion. One of the teachers had return
ed from Illinois and was full of the
spirit of the prairies. He talked much
Of the west, and decided, as so many
[,-1y RI rs L
ject OF which | knew nothing. l was
4S-years old and had never been out
side of the state. think had once
journeyed into the adjoining county.
So / wrote an grafton on The Great
West. Unconsciously my thoughts in
relation to my own life were turned
toward the regions had pictured and
recommended. The matter had been
more or less in my mind for two years
when got hold of an elaborate de-
scription af the Red river country. l
suppose it was put out by the land
agent OF some railroad. | had an
uncle in Mount Vernon, Iowa. He
was out vest and the Red river was
out west, aEd in the infrmity of my
geography(I associated my relativeand
the region together. 81 had work
ed onna farm in Vermont and taught
school for two winters; had bought
colt ara Few = g6sep a AID P 1aEa 81
their keep, and consequently had made
and saved $125. The law was not in
my mind when left home. Land was
cheap in the Red river county and l
had decided to go there and be a
farmer. When got to Mount Yer
non l was q years old. | was farm
laborer the first summer and in the
winter taught district school. Cor
nell college is in Mount Vernon, ane
at my uncle's house and in the town
came within the college influence. 4
desire for an education was aroused
and when discovered that l coul'
earn my way, gave up farming as
career.
During all but one of my vaca
tions ! sold nursery stock. 1t ha
been said that dealt in trees, bu
trees were small part of my bust
ness. ! 4tried subscription books, bu
books.ars not like trees and plants
are not so satisfactory to the fello'
who sells them. Selling nursery stoc
did me more practical good than an
other experience of my life. travel
ed overs $50 square miles of ne'
country, in which there was scarcel
fruit tree or a berry bush. drov
long distances from farm to farm an
met thany men. In two seasons
shipped $4,000 worth of trees an
small fruit to Denison, the town j
which.I afterwards lived and practie
ed law had competition, too. Bu
1 discovered that the better way is
give Aur opponent every good wor
to which he is entitled, 1t never pay
to run the other fellow down. Prais
him, and you Indirectly recommen
yourself and your commodities. The
ii you are beaten, you maintain yor
own self respect, for the victor, b
your own testimony, is decent ar
able hs6 know lawyer who thinl
all of the other lawyers in the tow
where, he lives are second rate petit
foggerA,, and he says so openly al
boastingly. Nevertheless, those vel
same men beat him two-thirds Of IL
time IN the trial of cases. He snee
sneyrssal himself, for the judgme,
Of a community is based on results.
Frequently, farmer would bring o.
catalogue from a reputable nursel
in WHICH !the quoted price was fiji
lower Than mine. That looked like
hopeless case. But l would show tt
farmers 1e orders l had taken fro
his nelsh Ors and from persons livin
in theviSinity of the other nursery
You know what the Bible says abol