Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-02-09

Shaw went to work, and when corn
husking was over he decided to pay
a deferred visit to his grandmother
at the little town of Delhi When
he reached there he learned that a
school teacher was wanted, and sc
turning his back on his grandmother
place he went to work again. AS he
tells the incident:
II went to Manchester and then
walked to Delhi, reaching there about
2 O'Clock In the afternoon and went
into an examination Of teachers to get
q certificate to teach. succeeded In
getting a certificate before any Of the
other applicants, all of whom had been
at work since morning. / went back
and taught school one term, and 1T
the close of school walked back To
Mt. Vernon to save railroad fare"
Z Tries Tree Peddling.
As soon as school was out, he be.
gan to tramp around the country ped
ding nursery stock. Apple Tree
Shaw" they called him in those days,
and Apple Tree Shaw" he is still IN
many section of Iowa. AS one of
the, Old farmers to whom Shaw re.
peatedly sold stock once remarked:
When Apple Tree SHAW began to
talk about plantin' an orchard you
might as well consider it a-growin'."
But there were some balky ones, and
when 1t was utterly impossible to
sell the men trees Shaw asked to
see the women folks, and seldom
left the house without selling them
a book for the parlor table Trees
and books, he was prepared for az.
This fruit tree peddling was valu.
able from two standpoints; it support,
ed the young man and gave him a
valuable acquaintanceship in the coun
try and insight into human nature
I was never out of a job he de
clares, land the experience in meeting
men and graphing with them in sell
ing fruit trees was pretty nearly as
good schooling as l ever got from the
| books
Enters Mt. Vernon College.
| In 1871 Shaw enter-d Mt Vernon
college, paying his tuition and expen
ses by continuing to act as nursery
stock solicitor, teaching school anf
working as hand on nearby farms
1t is to his experience in teaching
school that the secretary of the trea
sury now attributes one of his notice
able traits, that of looking straight in
to the eyes of every person with whom
he talks. His hearty grip is a remind
err OF the campaign day of 1896, bu
his hypnotic, compelling stare harks
back further than that This is tn,
way he tells the story:
when first began teaching schoo
they gave me the tsughest school Il
1 the neighberhood. Some of the boy.
were bigger than l was and the,
boosted of having made life miserable
for all my predecessors 1ney began
with me on the very first day, when
called on one of the big boys to spell
bucket, he spelled pail and gig
gled. This started the rest of the room
fgiggling, too. saw Ia AVE my hand.
4 full in; minute. l had. to do some
thing. I waited for the giggling K
stop, then. caught that boys eyes AM
we. bagan- ste ring at each other.
4 don't know how long we kept 1t up blu
knoy. the whole room was watchin,
1 us in silence. Il didn't say d word, un
til, pretty soon,4 the boy blinked, an,
dropped his gaze on the floor. Now
then | remarked you spell bucket,
But there was still some fight in hin
and he tried to raise his eyes. to me
He got them as high as the top of m,
desk and there they stuck. 'Spel
bucket said l, more sternly. He mad,
one more attempt, but his eyes sill
down to the top of my desk. 'Buket,
shouted in my deepest voice
Bucket he said, meekly, AM
went on looking at the top of my desk
didn't have any more trouble Will
/ that school"
Helps Eyes With Hickory.
] But what did the top Of the desl