The Washington herald., 1914-03-12
HISTORY BUILDERS.
The Masnate Who Began Life as a
Tinware PeddIer.
(Written Expressly for The Herald.)
by DIR. z. }. EDWARDS.

Cwritten Expressly for The Herald.)
by DIR. Il. }. EDWARDS.
ct HAD an extraordinary experience
Il with the late Frank Jones. OF New
Hampshire, only two or three years
before his DEATH" said Charles f. Hall.
OF New York. to me recently.
Mr.. Hall was associated for some time
editorially with the historians of the
States Of California and Oregon Later
he was engaged for several years in the
preparations of the biographies Of men
of large business achievements which
were to be incorporated in an extensive
biographical cyclopedia. It was the de-
sire of the editor of this cyclopedia that
an especially careful biography Of Frank
s. Jones be prepared, for Mr.. Jones was
esteemed one of the ablest OF the intel
Iectual and business forces OF his time
in New England. and he also was Of
high political authority. having served In
Congress as a Democrat from a Repub-
licaD State and having been prominently
associated some years with the Demo-
cratic National Committee.
II called by appointment upon Mr..
Jones at his apartments, which were In
the very fine hotel which he built at
Portsmouth. n. H. said Mr.. Hall.
That little city was his home. There
outside Of that associated with the great
corporations with which he was also
identified. I knew In a vague way that
he had been very influential In the i'm
provement and development of railway
systems whose terminals were at Bos-
ton. I knew also that he had served In
Congress and had been esteemed as per-
haps the most influential Democrat In
Northern New England.
NJ
some facts associated with his beginning
Of active business life. had heard that
he was poor boy. He received me very
kindly. but he said to me that man
who was so engrossed as he was in many
business undertakings and who. besides
his manufacturing business. was greatly
occupied with railroad affairs. and to
some extent with politics. did not have
the time to recall what his early ex-
periences were. He lived in the present
day and not in the past He said that
he could remember how he got into rail-
roads and he had a very vivid recollec-
ton of his initiation into active Demo-
cratic politics. but only the vaguest rec
objection OF his start in life. He sup
posed that IL he gave himself to II Tor a
week or a month and talked with some
people who knew him as young man
he might be able to recall some of the
early incidents Of his business career.
However. after rejecting for few
moments, Mr.. Jones said: i do remem-
ber that | began in business for myself
as a tin peddler. Do you know what
New England tin peddIer was? Well, he
was a man who owned a horse and
wagon fitted up with compartments that
held tinware and the simpler domestic
utensils of the kitchen. He was bar
gamer. lie went around from farmhouse
to farmhouse and took in exchange for
tinware rags or old copper, old lead
pipes. used-up pewter utensils. and Nari-
Gus things OF that kind. That was the
way most Of the farmers wives in those
days got their tin utensils. Well, that
was the way I started. Now | come to
think OF it, tin peddling was the hest
training in a business way for a young
man that was possible in New England
1t made him shreWd AT bargain. but
he had to be honest, for most farmers
wives had TO be shrewd in those days
Well, in that way he learned human ma
ture He learned how to drive bargains
When Mr.. Jones' mind went back to
his days as a tin peddIer there gradually
was revived A recollection Of events long
forgotten. lie became intensely interest
ed as he followed his own development
from his days of peddling until he had
capital sufficient to start
him in business. He narrated thess ex-
periences for an hour and he apparently
took delight in recalling things which
had long been buried in his memory.
"Afterward when / showed him the
printed proof Of the talk with me he
read it over carefully and then said it
was all due to the awakening Of his
memory by the fac: that he had recalled
that in his early days he had been
New England tin peddler.'
Copyright. l9iil
r., mi Oratpr