THE BOY WHOSE DIFFICULTIES MADE HIM DETERMINED TO SUCCEED
Among the flood of European immigrants that came to America in the
early seventies of last century, was a family from Alsace-Lorraine,
named Kindleberger. There were several small children in the family and
they were all well used to hardship for they had never known anything
but poverty. After three or four years of changing around the family
finally settled in West Carrollton, Ohio, where the father obtained
work in the paper-mills.
The third in the group of seven children was named Jacob and as soon as
he was ten he was sent to work in the mills where he earned twenty-five
cents a day. One week he would be on the day shift, and a day’s work
meant thirteen long hours. The following week he worked on the night
shift which lasted twelve hours. The mills were poorly ventilated, dark
and cheerless, and if young Jacob ever lagged behind in his work his
ears were soundly boxed or he was given a kick. Enormous quantities of
rags were brought to the mills to go through the process which would
make them into paper. At first Jacob’s work was to cut the buttons from
the rags. This work had to be done very carefully. Not one button must
be allowed to go through the machine, or paper would be ruined. Jacob
was severely handicapped for doing this work because of his defective
eyesight. His eyes were so poor that he could not easily distinguish
buttons from rags, so he trained himself to work by touch. As swiftly
as he could the half-blind boy toiled away, terrified lest he should
allow buttons to get into the machine, but taking his punishment when
it came, without whimpering. For a long time his wages remained at
twenty-five cents per day, but even that small amount was sorely needed
in the Kindleberger home, where there was a constant struggle against
actual want.
Jacob was far from happy in those days. His father had not got on
as well as he had hoped and was a discouraged man. His mother was
overworked and weary with having to look after the needs of so many
children, with very little money. At fifteen Jacob was earning only
thirty cents a day. He could neither read nor write. The hours of
labour at the mill were such that he had seldom even played. There was
little for him to do but work, eat and sleep. He had no ambition, for
there had been nothing in his life so far but poverty and hardship and
it seemed as though he were destined to become, like his father, a
discouraged man. Then something happened which completely changed Jacob
Kindleberger’s life.
One Sunday evening he was standing with a number of other lads of his
own age, near the Carrollton Methodist Church. One lad said, “Let us go
into the church and have a good laugh.” They agreed and went in, Jacob
among them. But instead of having a good laugh Jacob sat spell-bound as
the minister preached. The man spoke about life, its possibilities and
responsibilities. He asked his hearers what they intended doing during
the next ten, twenty or thirty years. Would they be bigger, better,
happier, more useful? As he listened Jacob became suddenly dissatisfied
with his life. He felt it was all so meaningless and empty. He seemed
to be going from nowhere to nowhere; but what help could he get? He who
could neither read nor write. The minister invited those who earnestly
wanted God to help them, to come forward, and Jacob got up in his seat
and accepted the invitation.
For the first time in his life Jacob went to a school. It was Sunday
School and he found that boys half his age could both read and
write. They treated him kindly and he felt at home among them but he
determined there and then, that he would not be pitied. He would learn
to read and write and meet these boys on an equal footing. One thing
which greatly helped him was that he made a new set of companions. He
had never known such lads before and he did not know that there could
be so much kindness and sympathy in the world. Nobody around that
church or Sunday School ever said an unkind word, or did a mean thing
to Jacob, but when he saw them reading the Bible or singing out of
hymn-books, it almost seemed as if they lived in another world.
One boy gave Jacob his old primary books. He taught him his letters
and the meaning of words. Jacob’s defective eyesight prevented his
making as much progress as he would otherwise have done because he read
so slowly and had to hold the book within a few inches of his face.
Then his home was crowded and no matter how eager to learn he might
be, it was not easy to study. The only heated room in the house was
the kitchen and there the whole family gathered. The younger children
played and shouted and the only light came from a miserable little oil
lamp. Jacob stuck to his lessons night after night. He did his best
work after ten o’clock, when the others had gone to bed. He would sit
up until his mother thumped on the floor and insisted that he “put
those books away and get to bed.”
Jacob got his first pair of glasses when he was nineteen. He was simply
amazed at the great difference they made. He said: “I had no idea what
I had been missing until I got those glasses. They literally changed
earth into heaven. For days I went about in a daze of wonder, just
looking and discovering new beauties.” From then on he made better
progress with his studies and was soon able to read and write with
comparative ease.
When he was twenty-one he entered school, taking his place in the
fourth grade. Most of his class-mates were about eleven or twelve
years of age. He felt terribly awkward when he first took his place in
the class. He was earning his living by acting as janitor and truant
officer for the school, but for six hours each day he sat in the class.
He did so well with his lessons that in four years he was able to enter
Ohio Wesleyan University where he began to study for the Christian
ministry.
He had to pay his own way, of course, but this he did by working
after classes and on Saturdays and vacations. He began by acting as
a salesman for paper and did so well that before long he was earning
more than he had ever done in his life. He had a hard time, however,
at the university. His eyes gave him a great deal of trouble and he
could never read for long at one time. His eyes were not equal to any
prolonged strain. One day when he was in college the printed page
before him suddenly became blank. After the lecture he went straight to
a doctor who told him that if he did not leave college at once he would
go blind.
It was a severe disappointment, but Jacob had become used to hard
knocks, and he did not lose heart. He left college and secured a
position as a travelling salesman at fifteen dollars a week. It was
not much, but he determined to succeed--and he did. He travelled all
over the United States, Canada and Mexico, and he made friends and
did business, wherever he went. So hard did he work at this that he
became the most successful salesman his firm had on the road. Then
one day a friend told him that there was room for a new paper-mill
near Kalamazoo, Michigan. After investigating the situation he decided
to try the venture and so he began the mills--just two miles from
Kalamazoo--where now stands the town of Parchment.
Success in the new venture did not come quickly. There were many
discouragements and setbacks, but all his life Jacob Kindleberger
had faced difficulties and they had always served to increase his
determination. He worked at those new mills as hard--or harder--than
any man on the job. He even shovelled coal in the boiler-room to cut
down expenses. He was the first on the job in the morning, and the last
to quit at night.
One day on a railway train, he overheard a lady say that she had tried
everywhere to get a certain kind of shelf-paper but without success.
That gave him an idea. Immediately he began to manufacture that kind of
paper and sold it in great quantities. Soon the tide turned and success
came. The machinery of the mills was improved and the output of paper
increased daily. Homes were built for the employees, and before long
Parchment was a good-sized town. A fine school was built, a church, a
community house, large playgrounds, and everything has been done with a
view to have the people of that town comfortable, contented and happy.
Some time ago in the _American Magazine_, Mr. W. S. Dutton told of a
visit he paid to Parchment and of his impressions. The mills, he said,
are among the largest and most scientifically equipped in the world.
They represent, at present, an investment of more than seven million
dollars. From the large machines, beautiful white writing paper rolls
out at the rate of seven hundred feet a minute, and Mr. Kindleberger
hopes to have this output increased to one thousand feet a minute.
Jacob Kindleberger has never forgotten the debt he owes to church and
Sunday School. As soon as the first house was built in Parchment a
Sunday School was started and there is a fine church in the town. For
fourteen years Mr. Kindleberger has been the teacher of the Adult Bible
Class and no man could be more loved and respected. The half-blind
immigrant boy who began life almost without any education, has become
one of the most successful business men, and one of the noblest
Christian gentlemen, on this continent.