The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-13

every time l can. want to make 'em
sharp"
A year before John D. Rockefeller
became twenty-one years old his ia Their
said to him that for $40 cash in hand.
he would give him his time" This
meant that John p. upon payment of
this sum would be released from his
obligations to turn over to his father
all his earnings until he attained his
majority. Those were the apprentice
ship customs of the time. John d. re-
marked that the offer is certainly
worth considering" and later he paid
over the $40 to his father.
At that time they were living in
Cleveland in house which William
a. Rockefeller bought at the corner of
Case and Euclid Avenue. This house
was later moved across the street,
where 1t is now occupied as school,
John p. Rockefeller's town house in
Cleveland. the house from which his
mother was buried as a widow" in
1889, stands on this site.
William A. Rockefeller, the father,
| at once began to collect board none.
from his son John, and when John
eXpostulated turned on him with the
triumphant cry:
! fou bought your time, didn't you9
What you're getting now is your own
amt 1T? Well, you have to pay me
| board"
And John D. paid until he was TWEEN
| ty-one. when as usual the father hand
ed him $1,000. Doc" Rockefeller al
ways gave each of his sons $1,000 on
| his twentytirst birthday, and always
with the warning:
Hang on to this, because Ill get 1t
| back from you If i can"
"Staked" John d.
According to the knowledge that the
! Strongsvile cronies of William A,
! Rockefeller have. he advanced be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000 to John D.
when the richest man in the world
| entered upon his first business ven
ture. Nowhere in the recent auto
biographies of his life. which the
Standard Oil magnate has put out in
the form of interviews or Sunday
\ school advice, has any mention of his
1a1her's financial aid appeared. But the
farmers of Strongsville who remember
/ John DIS early life recall this cir
Icumstance very clearly. They know II
from John D. himself, and they knew
| 1t from Doc" his father, who talked
as freely about his own sons as about
any one else with whom he had had a
/ business transaction.
4 Uncle joe Webster, who sells hi
eggs for five cents more than tn,
market price per dozen to Cleveland
/ biggest hotel showed a shotgun hang
4 ing up on the wall in his farmhouse
4 to a World reporter one day, and said
1 Doc Rockefeller came along on
4 day and showed me that shotgun an,
a rife. He said they waren't any good
and he'd sell 'em for So. He said h
missed mark with both, and he kney
1t wasn't his fault, but the fault Of TIL
\ guns, and he wanted to get rid Of them
paid him So and took the two guns
land then we went out In the clearin,
4 to shoot at a mark. beat him shoot
I ing with the gun I'd Just bought o
him. and he was so mad that he threl
. down his own gun and eXclaimed:
i don't want any such gun as tina
III can't beat my own neighbors shoot
ling
"He was a terribly proud man. ii
was good shot. but when any on
would beat him shooting at a mark O
Il a bird he'd get so angry that he
clear out. cursing and swearing. /
wasn't very often anybody got the hes
Of the Doc When they did, you be
he was mad clear through"
Mr.. Webster said he wasn't sur
enough Of his eyes to brag much abou
his shooting nowadays, but If tn
World reporter found the father of tn