The Washington herald., 1911-06-25

in keg and all of US had soup during
the course of the evening The annual
| feast of oysters was the only luxury
permitted or possible in West Berk-
shire
My fathers business took him to st.
Albans, twenty miles distant When I
was ten years old, We moved there so
that George. my brother. and 1 could
go to a better school than the one in
the country. George, five years my
junior. has long been a member of Con-
gress from Chicago. He went to Harvard
because he meant to be a lawyer 1
left the University of Vermont at the
end of my sophomore years because I
meant to go into business
What kind OF business?" 1 asked.
Il was analyzing the situation when
1 heard of a patented machine for dry
ing lumber. / told the inventor, who
lived in st. Adams, that I would work
for nothing If he would pay my travelling
expenses. He swallowed the bait, being
an acquaintance of my father, and 1
took a day coach for Grand Rapids. the
center Of the furniture industry. Soon
thereafter l was drawing $75 a month
regularly. The machines cost about $50
apiece and sold for $500. They drew the
hot, moist air out of the kilns, dried it,
and sent ii back with fans. I have
never been ashamed of those machines
1 would have bought one myself If I
had been in the lumber business.
Moving about, 1 learned to meet and
understand men, to remember names and
faces and to talk with my customers
about things in which they were interest
ed. If one of them had toothache, I
would recall the affiiction the next time
saw him.
Takes on Fans as a Side Line.
said m
drive the dried air back into the kiln.
Fans. found. were used for many other
purposes The one we attached to our
machine was made by B, F. Sturtevant.
of Boston. / wrote. made terms, and
took up fans as side speciality Fifteen
months after leaving home. the Sturte
want company sent for me. 1 had sold
their fans rather diligently and promis-
cuously. They asked my terms. I more
than doubled my salary when I gave
them my answer. They hired me i'm
mediately."
"And two years later you married one
OF Mr.. SturtevantS daughters"
But l had come to the front in his
business, had gone to the West and re-
organized his selling arrangements. Mr..
Sturtevant was a mechanical genius.
Having learned the shoemaker's trade in
Maine, he invented a machine for peg
ging-hardly any boots or shoes in those
days were sewed. Coming to Boston a
poor man, he revolutionized the shoe in
dustry. Little chips OF wood were made
by the pegging machine, and so he in
vented a fan to blow them out of the
way. The development of the fan gave
him the ownership Of a large factory"
I'm time" 1 said, you became inter-
ested in cotton mills, coal companies.
banks. and SO on?''
When I entered the service of Mr..
Sturtevant had saved $500 took the
money to a broker and he bought ten
shares of Atchison stock Then 1 went
on the road. The shares went to $50,
but as didn't read the markets didn't
sell and take my profits. After my re-
turn to Boston the Atchison road went
into the hands of a receiver. Being
curious, I Investigated the facts bearing
on the property. When the road was re-
organized had faith enough to buy q
large number Of shares. the price of
which had tumbled almost to nothing.
used all the money / had and all that
could borrow. Presently the stock
doomed upward and made fortune,
tcOpsrisht .sli. By James B. M0r0xl