The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1920-07-02
FROM FARM BOY
To PRESIDENT


you know you promised to tell US
all about Senator Harding last week" :"
teased Jack ~ hs tussed At his
uucle's coat.
That's true. Jack. All right. I'll
tell you all can but there are so
many things to tell about Mr.. Hard
ins that cant possibly tell them oil
tonight. Now sit real quiet and
don't ask too many questions.
warren q. Harding was born on
his srandfather's farm. not far from
the little village OF Blooming Grove.
Morrow county, Ohio. on the second
day Of November, 1855. There were
eight children In the family and SEN
atsr Harding wss the oldest. His
father. 0eoree T. Harding. was the
village doctor In those days and II
still praeticing medicine IN the city OF
Marion. Ohio. the present homo Of
the senator. The original Harding
family came from Scotland. and set
tied first in Connecticut and later
moved to Wyoming valley. Pennsyi-
vauia. where many OF them fought In
the Revolutionary war. warren's
mother. for he was Warren. Jack.
just ss you are Jack today. was
Phoebe Diekerson. descended from
the Van Kinks. an old Holland Dutch
family. So you see our next Presi-
dent has the strong blood Of the Hol-
land Dutch on one side and the fear
less. alert. and iiberty-ioving Scotch
blood on the other.
As Warren grew up on his grand
fathers farm he had to learn to cut
down trees. chop wood. split rails.
plant and hoe corn and all those
things that had to be done when to
raise crops meant raising them be-
tween the roots and stumps Of trees. !
Everything was done by hand for
there was no expensive farm machin-
cry. Your father knows. Jack. what
hard work II was In those days"
Didn't he ever play?" asked Ruth.
you bet he did. Ruth. He was .
healthy. big boy and like all healthy
boys he enjoyed the sports OF the
country and village. He loved the
old aud NO boy could dive deeper or \
swim farther than Warren. He had
. sunny disposition and was the real
leader OF the gang Of his school,
mates. when he vas ls he looked
like . man and had the strength OF .
man and there was no older boy who
dared bully him. And he always pro-
tected the younger boys. Up until be
was IL years old he went TO the vii
lage school. and then he entered the
Ohio Central college OF iberia. He
high In scholarship. II
was while there that he showed a
talent for newspaper work. for he
was made editor OF the college paper.
But the boys In those days couldn't
afford to go right through college.
He had to stop for a time now and
then to earn enough money to go
ahead and finish. During these times
he worked at many things. He
painted his neighbors' barns. cut
corn. and drove a team to grade the
roadbed OF a railroad. He taught
school when he was II and played a
horn in the village brass band.
But after he had a try at many
lhings he still longed to be a news
paper man. and at odd times he /,
worked in the little printing office.
He learned to set type by hand and ,
ster run q linotype machine. which 4,
8 used today in setting one line Of
newspaper type at once. In fact he ,
earned from the ground up every ,
hing there was TO know about q
newspaper and to this day he carries
n his pocket a luck piece which is
lothing more or less than the old
,rinter's rule he used years ago when i.
Ie was setting type.
IAN OF Senator Harding's news
'aper ambitions were realized, for
Ie finally became the owner and pub .
isher of the Marion. Ohio, Star =
he Star is his pet. When Warren .
vas 10 his father moved to Marion,
fhere the Star was struggling +
ally paper In a town OF about 1000
eople. Warren could think Of moth
ng else but that he wanted to own
hat paper. His father finally helped
i'm take II over and then followed
ionths and months of struggle and
ard work to keep II going. At times
g had to do everything from setting
he type OF writing the news and
ClIECnG Al M 4 ATTN