The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-07-24
BY WILLIS THORNTON
NEA Service Writer

MA service nF1tff
DETROIT. July 2f-Henry
~ Ford will be 10 years old on
July 30. But today. with that an
nivesary less than a week away,
Henry Ford reveals an agility of
body an elasticity Of mind, and
an eagernesS to face the future
lacking in many men wlo have
not even approached their allot-
ted three score and ten.
l came upon Henry Ford rather
Unexpectedly on the the steps of
the Martha Mary chapel in the
curious antique" village of
Greenfield. which Ford has set
down in the meadows a half mile
from his Office and three or four
miles across level gar,lan-plots
from the great plant that sprawls
along the River Rouge. I made
myself known.
Let's sit down" said Ford.
He losses his stiff straw nat light
II on the grass before him and
sits down on the low stocp before
the chapel
He Is utterly at ease IN a gray
mixture jacket with a Norfolk
belt in the back He wears no
vest He stretches spidery legs
out before him His shoes are a
light dancing oxford mlde for
him by the cobbler who works IN
the transplanted old-time shoe
maker shop and tollgate mouse at
Greenfield
Ford turns humorous eyes at a
question No. no, l don't expect
TO retire There still are some
things I can do that need to be
done
Il have no romantic notions of
dying in harness. but 1 expect to
go on working because i. is the
thing l do best, and because 1
take it for granted that every
man must work-that's his nat
ural destiny"
LIS face is deeply lined and
II we'll tanned. the humorous
eyes deep set and dancing. His
hair, iron-gray. curls up slightly
at the back.
Abundance of nervous energy is
revealed in every movement, every
quick turn and penetrating glance.
He springs TO his feet energeti-
caliy as a car drives up.
Hello. Bill" he greets a young
man cordially. Il kind of wanted
to hear You boys sing this morn
ing. Come right along in" he
adds to the interviewer.
We climb a narrow set of steps
in the little chapel. Ford, as light
on his feet as boy. leads the way.
We sit in a straight pew in a tiny
balcony at the rear of the church.
Ford slumpS back in the pew,
rests a slim ankle across one knee,
and fiddles with a small nail file.
AT the front of the chapel, seven
serious-faced youths of II and Is.
guides who show visitors through
the Greenfield village, cluster
about small organ console.
Sing Home on the Rangs'-in
waltz time" calls down Ford The
young voices are borne upward on
the organs accompaniment to the
cowboy air of the Texas plains
Home. home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging
And the skies are not cloudy all day"
A CROSS the well-g a c n d
L N meadows all of Dearborn is
huge vegetable garden, both well
fare benefciaries and Ford work
ers being urged to cultivate them
the great River Rouge plant is
Kissing and clanking, and a new
Ford is being driven off the as
sembly line every minute.
But inside the simple white
painted chapel with its sound
proof triple-glass windows, none of
these things exist. nor does the
serious discussion we had begun
about a world in the remaking or
SEVENTEEN birthday fast ap-
preaching
How often at night when the heavens
are bright
With the lights from this glittering stars.
Have | stood here amazed. and asked
| gaHed
II eheir glory exceeds that of our"
Song followed song Sometimes
Ford suggested them. Sometimes
the boys ran informally from one
into another. III Take You Home
Again. Kathleen" Whispering
Hope" "Gahlee" (this was one of
Thomas Edison'S favorite songs.
Ford explains. Beautiful Isle OF
Somewhere
Land Of the true. where we hive;
Beautiful Isle of Somewhere"
That doesn't worry me-" OBJ
serves Ford. turning with a quiz
zical smile. L believe in relncar-
nation The organ leads the
voices into another song.
GEE that boy down there sing
~ ing. with his head back?"
asks Ford. Il heard him in a lit
tie church one time singing, and I
said 70 myself. That's a nice-look-
ing boyd like TO have him
come and work for me- So had
him looked up. and I found he
had already been working for me
for eight years He chuckles.
Youth is Henry Ford's hobby as
he turns 20 himself. Greenfield
Village. despite its ancient and
historic buildings re-erected on
the 200-acre site. is no anti
quarian museum.
II is the nucleus of the Edison
institute. which Ford expects some
day will give technical training 10
youth, teaching at once the SIM
plicity OF life of an earlier day. the
intricacies Of modern technology.
and the crude. but fundamental,
inventions that lie beneath its
modern development
Ford speaks with evident pleas
ure OF concert the night before.