Middletown transcript., 1911-05-27
THE FARMERS BOY

Ata meeting ofthe Presidents oftwenty
OF the nations largest corporations held
in New York, the other day it was a
matter of comment that of those present,
twelve were farmers boys"
When the youngster at the home on
the farm gets "the blues" and fancies
that monotony and drudgery of tilIer of
the soil, he can think OF those twelve
captains of industry who started as he is
starting and remember that when they
were times when they too imagined that
it was a hopeless ambition to aspire to
win their way to the front in the city.
He wants to remember that the farm
has evolved some of the worlds greatest
men and some of the most conspicuously
useful ones and that with the increasing
activities of the nation in all directions
there is now, more than ever, room at the
top for the exceptional man.
In the contemplation of the stirring
achievements Of the farmers boy, past
and present, if be has Imagination and
soul he will find helpful inspiration, when
the day seems dark and the future full of
gloom. Let him recollect-as the world
surely does-that it was the farm that
gave US Abraham Lincoln, one of the
worlds most majestic figures; that gave
Us Andrew Jackson, Milard Fillmore,
the martyed Garfield, Horace Greeley,
Sir Isaac Newton and the brilliant Carlyle.
It was farmers son-Eli Whitney, who
created the cotton gin, which laid the
foundation for the growth oil the cotton
industry, BOW worth 5000, 100000 a year
to the United States and farmers boy
Elias Howe, who emancipated woman
hood from the slavery of the needle by
inventiDg the sewing machine.
Long before Robert Fulton sailed his
steamboat, the Clermont up the Hudson,
John Fitch, the ingenious product Of a
Pennsylvania farm demonstrated that a
boat could be propelled by steam by equip
ping skiff with an engine and sailing
his craft up the Delaware With its aid.
Another brainy farmers boy--Oliyer
Evans-sometimes called the Watt of
America-was the first to build and oper-
ate locomotive in the United States. Cy-
rus Nc Cormick, inventor of the reaper
the Whir of which is today heard round
the earth, was the modest son of an
ordinary Illinois farmer. The first ma
chine to make tacks was the creation of
Massachusetts farm lad-Thomas Blan-
chard and a ceVice that furnished the
world with the modern screw was the
work Of poor Vermont genious-Thomas
Harvey, quiet, thoughtful farmers son.
To the resourcefulness Of an Ohio farm
boy-Charles F. Bruch--who invented
the dynamo, the world is indebted for its
present day great industrial and power
plants that give employment to millions
of hands. Thomas A. Edison, most brill
liant of the world g inventors, sponsor for
the electric light, the phonograph and
hundred devices, was the son of poor
Iaborer. Patrick B. Delany, inventor the
multiplex, the Delany relay, the telepost
automatic telegraph and hundred other
telegraph and cable Improvements grew
up on New England farm. From Wis.
consin farm came G. L. sholes, the inven-
tor of the typewriter, which revolutoniz-
ed the business methods of the world.
Where service is the only credential
that commands recognition aud mans
ability must square with his responsible.
ity, the farmers boy" who has heark-
ened to the call of the big city will be
found to-day in the front rank of the
worlds useful workers in every large city
on the face of the earth. He makes good
and the world needs him.