Evening star., 1938-07-24
Ford
Continued From Page CAY

was turned on. the friction caused q
considerable fame to emanate from
the coffee mill 1t was interesting
and colorful. The only difficulty was
that the boys left the ditch still
blocked when they called of work for
the night. When they returned to
school in the morning. they found the
area flooded. John Miller. who owned
the surrounding farm land. also found
his potato crop under water Natural
ly, he was furious, and demolished the
dam with solitary swipe of his spade.
A MOTHER dramatic episode had to
do with the operation of the
turbine. 1t was discontinued after 1t
had blown up a considerable section
of the Miller School Fortunately.
school was not in session at the mo-
ment
John Haggerty says the old Ford
home, where Henry was born. was
built so that one-half of it stood In
Dearborn Township, while the other
half rested in Springwells Township.
John was frequent visitor at Henry's
and sometimes stayed the night. It
was Henry's whimsy on these occasions
to inquire Of John if he preferred to
sleep in Dearborn or Springwells
Back in those days, the law required
three commissioners to run the dis
trict schools-a moderator, a commits
sloner and a treasurer Haegerty's
father was moderator, but Henry's ia
ther was both commissioner and
treasurer, thus holding the balance Of
power
Eight cords of hard wood were re-
qulred to heat the Miller School
through the winter. Farmers teams
carried the wood to the school yard.
They used to pay the teacher s45
a month"; recalled John Haggerty.
But I guess We needed extra disci-
pline when Henry and went to school
there. because they hired a cooper
this name was j. B. Chapman). and
they paid him SIS a month above the
scale.
That man could have told Henry
and me all he knew in 10 minutes.
But he weighed 275 pounds, and 1t
was the weight that really counted"
John HAGGERTY may we'll be
wrong in his belief that Henry
Ford was dismissed by the watch
maker, but there is fairly well-estab-
lished story that ne was actually
fired" once. The episode occurred
in a foundry where Henry had a Job
when he was Is years old
There was break in the ma
chinery. something that occurred be-
cause of strain. The accident threat
ened to shut down the plant. Henry
watched three men attempting to re-
pair the damage.
THAT isn't the way to do IT," he
said. 1T will take you three men a
couple of days to fix it the way you're
going at it,
Henry proceeded to mend the ma
chinery in couple of hours
The foreman, very much chagrined.
regarding Henry as a fresh kid, fired
him on Saturday night. He was q
fresh kid all right, but the sort OF q
fresh kid who had something to back
up his freshness. Henry sometimes
refers to the incident. TT shows 1t
sometimes doesn't pay to know too
much" he says.
No doubt he has always had an
uncanny way with machinery. He
still has. People observing him at his
endless tinkerings say that he can
clos close II his Sc: eyes and Re machines will
What kind of boy was Henry
Ford? Do you find the answer in
these few chronicles of his YOUTH
Was he, after all, just like the other
boys, as his old schoolmates insist?
1t seems to be true. Henry was
just like other boys. He dreamed .
larger dream than all the others.
That was the single difference.
Today he quietly and somewhat
humorously surveys the long, exciting
panorama of the years. And he gath
ers the friends Of his youth and the
symbols of an earlier American scene
about him to enjoy them in the serene
evening of his life. Thus he com.
pletes in his own way Ahe cycle from
youth to age and back to youth sgain.
And so the dream goes on.