Milford chronicle., 1924-09-05
THE TRIBUTE PAID
BY DAWES TO SON
Remarkable Statement Written by
the Father Read at Funeral
of Drowned Youth.
A STORY OF A NOBLE LIFE

: A STORY OF A NOBLE LIFI
Extraordinary Insight Into the Charac
ter of the Vice Presidential Can
didate Given by Document.
On Sept. 6, 1912, Rufus Fearing
Dawes, the only son of Charles G.
Dawes, was accidentally drowned at
Lake Geneva, a Summer resort, fifty
miles northwest Of Chicago. He was
21 years old and had just been grad
uated from Princeton. At the funeral,
in place of the usual eulOgy, General
Dawes, at that time President of the
Central Trust Company of Chicago,
began to read from a typewriter
| paper which he had sat up through
the night to complete He broke
down. 1t was finished by the Rev. w.
T. McElveen.
In it, besides the strong love of a
father for his son, was reflected an
insight into the character of Charles
G. Dawes as different from the Hell
and Maria conception as is the pic
ture by Whistler of his mother. Here
it is:
"The most of us here assembled are
the personal friends and acquaintances
of my dear son. So far as the outer
world is concerned, his promising life
cut off so early must ever be enVeloped
in obscurity. But 1, his father owe him
one last and solemn duty-to project
the high lesson of his life, as far as lies
in my power by using this last assem- |
blage of his friends when their minds |
and grieving hearts will the more in |
delibly receive the impression of his
memory
last four Summer vacations, dedicated |
voluntarily by him to preparation for
his life's work. Personally fond OF sports
and of social recreation to when the
balance of the college year legitimately
entitled him, he gave them up ana
spent in the comparative solitude OF
small engineering corps in western
South Dakota his Summer vacation ot
four years ago. Here he lived uncom-
plainingly a life of terrible hardship,
without my knowledge until it was Ov-
er. Every man in the corps went down
with malignant typhoid fever. Rutus
was the last man up and for days, Whlle
with the fever himself, TOOK
charge of and ministered to the balance /
If the camp, finally succeeding in NOV (
ng them to a place OF comparative Z
comfort. He then temporarily collapsed
)nly to pull himself together again,
md alone and sorely stricken, he set
,ut on the long journey home. 1t is hard
O speak of the sufferings of the fifty
nile trip to the railroad station of his
Ongwait there; of the terrible railroad
rip home when he was unable to sleep
II eat, and of his final arrival, when
vas our first knowledge of his trouble. {
'or weeks, without a word of complaint, '
e fought the fight of life or death, and e
hen, when conValescence came, II was !! \
My to usher in a relapse for a long II
nd severe second attack. I,
How He Spent His Savings r.
"Caunt and haggard, yet happy and n
heerful, he finally left the sickroom. Fl
Te had saved out of his compensation n
II surveying work the sum of $50. OF n
is own initiative and without SuggeS- e,
on, he devoted this money to the fol-
wing purposes. He made close con- IL
act with his friends IN the wholesale "
apartment of Jevne & Co., for twenty IL
lskets of provisions at 81 each, which 81
l Christmas Day, he personally dellV- ST
ed at the homes of the poor. VI the III
$40, he expended $40 for a 81
hristmas present for his sister and t1
,pt $40 for his personal use. az
THE next Summer with his dear he
lend, Melvin Ericsson, he went to Seat -
} and to a position in the gas COM its
my in which my brothers and are ar
terested. The Superintendent also is cl,
10 of our personal friends and en- tiC
avored to persuade the lads to ac- in
pt salaries large enough to enable ha
EN- to live at the best hotel, but Ruff sh
and Melvin declining upon the score
at their services would not fairly III
the sum offered, took lesser T.
e., and secured board and lodging else
lere for $25 per month each FO
The next Summer vacation Rufus
ent in the wholesale plumbing estab-
hment of his close friend, Donald
ymond. With his characteristic mas
fulness he announced to Donald
1T he would fix his own salary at $50
month, which he believed he could
n in the sales department. IN ihls
ce each month he turned profits into
, firm amounting to two or three
les his salary.
This present Summer he spent in the
works at Chicago Heights under
tutelage of his friends, Walter F.
9TH and vernes Cutler. During the Ge
Summer days, with the temperature No
degrees Farenheit in the gaShouSe, NO
fus Fearing learned to make gas. He
, mastered gas analysis, and in the err
week of his work was given charge Crt
the entire plant.
The last two weeks of the present Pei
alton, which proved to lie the last OF CC
life, he gave up to recreation, with her
great nervous energy with which he ~. ~
everything. DIs
His Other and Complete Career CHI
But I pass now to more important tie,
A5Ss MY DOy Was OIlly III lIlG UeSlIl~ LTlC
g of his business career, while the r
eer of which I am now TO speak was
lplete. The Lord gave him ample
g fully and wholly to complete it.
The truly great character must unite iste
sual strength and determination
great bentleness. My boy was i'm I
ous. He recognized no superior on
h, and yet was the tender and inti- T.
g friend of the weak and humble. -
have taken him with me among the
ltest in the nation and looked in KeI
for any evidence in him of awe or G
He has taken me, asking -
to help them, among the poor and al
y of earth. the
10 loved his friends, and but re- n
ly told his mother that our house c,.
all through the coming years to be one
stopping place for his college Cor
ids passing through the city. How ceiv
eful our lonely hearts will be to -.
l now if they will only accept this Uers
alton and sleep in his room and fill erS
l little time the empty chair. that
re commenced early in life to set NJ,
;elf against the crowd, for no man IN
to real prestige who follows it. OF End,
wn initiative he Joined the church. trict
a long time he taught Bible class 80
ethesda Mission. He did not smoke, anu
swear, nor drink. He was absolute 3, CO