The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1931-01-29

AN%SS&SSK ~ season. Early t
bed and early
to rise was the program.
Most of the day during the sum
mer was spent in tasks that made
Tor a strong body. The develop.
ment of the mind was left largely
Tor the winter. Then a boy took
MS books and sometimes trudeed
miles through the snow to the lit.
Tie rural school house. He had to
quit warm bed. dress by candle.
ilght In a chilly room and do his
snare of the chores before he set
out on his tramp to school in quest
of an education.
mat was the sort of q life Owen
ID. Young, chairman of the board
of the General Electric company,
financial genius and diplomat. led
as a 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.
Inc 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.
oilers 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
err 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
ganizati0n.
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 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 a 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 case.
They wore boiled shirts, stiff col
lars, black ties and broadcloth,
garb to the little boy
from the farm. He decided that
when he grew up he would be
lawyer.
But there were many obstacles
in his path He had to obtain a
better education than the rural
school offered, if he was to qualify
for his chosen profession.
Whom an I1nalo oop,o ~ boI,. L.
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
billions.
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
I'd to go to Cornell. thinking he
could win one of the state scholar
ships there. But he was too young
% be eligible to try the competi-
i've examinations. SO he returned
nome to help his father again. He
became interested in church work
md conducted the Sunday school
n the little church in Van Hornes-
lille.
Alpheus Baker Harvey, then
PRESIDENT of St. Lawrence univer-
;ity, came to the town to preach.
lie heard Owen Young speak in
'hurch. The lad interested him
10 much that the educator per-
uaded the elder Young that the
10Y was deserving of a college
ducation even at great sacrifice
o his parents.
SO the father borrowed $1,000
nd on that money, and his own
arnings, Owen D. Young went
through college. He got his bach.
lor of arts degree from St. Law
ence in 1894.
He still held to his ambition to
e a lawyer. He entered Boston
University, knowing that he would
ave to work his way through the
NV school. He served as a Ii.
rarian and tutor to earn all the
lOney needed to meet his modest
expenses. He completed the three
ear course in two years. {
After being admitted to the Mas {