The Coolidge examiner., 1931-01-09

to rise was the program.
Most of the day during the sum-
mer was spent in tasks that made
for strong body The develop
ment of the mind was left largely
for the winter. Then a boy took
his books and sometimes trudged
miles through the snow to the lit
lie rural school house. He had to
quit warm bed dress by candle
hight in a chilly room and do his
share of the chores before he set
out on his tramp to school in quest
of an education
That was the sort of life Owen
ID. Young, chairman of the board
of the General Electric company.
financial genius and diplomat, led
as boy. He was born In Van
HOrneSville, n. Y, in 1874. His
ancestors had settled there before
the Revolution. His father owned
farm five miles from the town.
The boy had TO perform all the
tasks that fell to the lot of other
youngsters in the same environ
ment.
The Young farm was Is miles
from the railroad. Itinerant ped
dlers were its chief contact with
the outside world. Their coming
was eagerly awaited. Trips to
town were taken only when neces-
sary. Such excursions meant much
lost time in the days of the horse
drawn wagon and poor roads.
Electric power, which has light
ened the work in rural sections.
the radio, which has put the farm
er in touch with the world and its
affairs, were not thought of as
farm equipment when Owen ID.
Young was boy They were
made largely possible for the
farmer through his genius for or
ganiZation.
Education, beyond the rural
school, was seldom considered
worth while for farm boys of the
time unless they planned on a pro-
fessiOnal life in town or city. If
they could read and write and do
simple problems in arithmetic,
they soon qualified for the job of
running q farm. Such a rudimen-
tary training with books was
bOlStered by hard and practical
schooling in matters of agricul-
ture.
Owen d. Young was not the
average farm boy. He walked five
miles day TO the rural school
and back during the term. helping
his father the while with the
chores. He was an only son.
1t was a red letter day in the
boys life when he was taken to
Cooperstown, the county seat of
Herkimer. Dressed in blue jeans
he went to the courthouse and
heard the lawyers argue a case.
They wore boiled shirts, stiff col
lars. black ties and broadcloth,
impressive garb to the little boy
from the farm. He decided that
when he grew up he would be a
lawyer.
But there were many obstacles
in his path. He had to obtain
better education than the rural
school offered, if he was to qualify
for his chosen profession.
When an uncle came to help his
father the way to an education
opened for the lad. He went to
the East Springfield academy, en-
couraged by his parents in his am
bitiOns
His father drove Owen to school
each week and brought him back
home on Friday. His mother pre-
pared the food on which he lived
while away from home. Each
week the boy carried away with
him. packed in a big box, the good
things his mother cooked for him.
He was ready for college when
he was fifteen years old. He want
ed to 90 to Cornell. thinking he
could win one of the state scholar
ships there But he was too young
to be eligible to try the cOmpeti-
tive examinations. SO he returned
home to help his father again. He
became interested in church work
and conducted the Sunday school
in the little church in Van Hornes-
vile.
AIpheus Baker Harvey, then
president of st. Lawrence univer-
sity, came to the town to preach.
He heard Owen Young speak in
church. The lad interested him
so much that the educator per
suaded the elder Young that the
boy was deserving of a college
education even at a great sacrifice
to his parents.
SO the father borrowed $1,000
and on that money, and his own
earnings, Owen d. Young went
through college. He got his bach
elOr of arts degree from st. Law
renee in 1894.
He still held to his ambition to
be a lawyer. He entered Boston
university, knowing that he would
have to work his way through the
law school. He served as a IL
brarian and tutor to earn all the
money needed to meet his modest
expenses. He completed the three
year course in two years.
After being admitted TO the Mas
sachusetts bar he went to work
for the General Electric company.
His promotion was rapid. The
farm boy of 80 years ago is now
the organizing genius of the cleo
trical industry and one of the
financial wizards of his time.
(G, 1880, by The North American
ne