Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1914-04-03
JACK LONDON
By Himself
ton for hin

At fifteen was man among men, ant
if had a spare nickel I spent it on
beer instead of candy, because
thought it was more manly to buy
teer. Now, when my years are doubl-
ed, l am out on a hunt for the boyhood
which never had. and l am less cur
Iious than at any other time Of my life.
4 Guess III find that boyhood. Almost
the first htings l realized were respoc-
sibilities. have no recollection of be.
ing taught to read or write-I could
do both at the age Of 1ve-but I know
that my first school was in Alameda
before I went out on a ranch with n. :
folks, and as a ranch boy worked hard
from my eighth year.
The second school where I tried to
pick up a little learning was an irres
Tar hit or miss affair at san Mateo.
Zach class sat in a separate desk, but
there were days when We did not sit
at all, for the master used to ge,
drunk very often, and then one Of TIL
older boys would thrash him. To even
things up, the master would then
thrash the younger lads, so you can
think what sort OF a school it was.
There was no one belonging to me. or
associated with M in any way who
had literary tastes CT ideas; the near
est can make to it is that my grand
father was a circuit rider, Welsh
man, known as Priest" Jones in the
tackwoods, where his enthusiasm le !
him TO scatter the Gospel.
One of my earliest and strongest in
Iprassions was Of the ignorance Of 9th
1 er people. I had read and absorbed
Washington Irvings "Alhambra" be-
fore was nine, but could never IN
derstand how it was that the other
ranchers knew nothing about it. Later
I concluded that this ignorance was
/ peculiar 10 the country and felt that
those who lived in cities would not be
so dense. One day man from the CITY
came to the ranch; he wore shiny
shoes and a cloth coat. and I felt
that here was a good chance for me 10
exchange thoughts with an enlightened
mind. From the bricks of an old
fallen chimney had built an Alham-
bra Of my own; towers. terraces, and
IAN were complete. and chalk inscr,p.
tons marked the different sections
Here l led the city man and gu zstion.
ed him about The Alhambra," but lie
Fas as ignorant as the men on the
ranch, and then l consoled myself
with the thought that there wers only
two clever people in the Wash
lilgton Irving and myself.
Ny ether reading matter at mat time
consisted mainly Of dime novels, Dor
rowed from the hired men, and news
papers in which the servants gloated
ever the adventures of poo but viz
tuous shop-girIs.
Through reading such stuff my mind
was necessarily ridiculously conven-
uonal, but being very lonely, l read
everything that came my way, and was
greatly impressed by Ouidas story.
sigma" which I deyoured regularly
for couple Of ears. I never knew
the finish until I grew up, Tor tn
closing chapters were missing rom NJ,
copy 50 I kept on dreaming with tie
hero. like him. unable to see Nemesis
. a. the end. My work on the ranch at
one time was to watch the bees. and as
J sat under a tree from sunrise till late
| III the afternoon, waiting for tie
Iswarming, had plenty of time to reed
and dream. Livarmore Valley was
very fat, and even the hills around
were then to me devoid of interest, and
The only incident to break in on my
visions was when l gave the alarm ot
swarming bees, and the ranch folk
rushed out with pots, pans, and buck
cts of water I think the opening lina
Of sigma" was, 1T was only a litt!e
lad, yet he had dreams of becoming Z