FOOTING GAINED IN MIDDLE WEST 355 



Mr. Clark's first venture was the purchase of the 

 bull Sir Arthur (705), by Sir Charles (543), 

 from F. W. Stone of Canada. He picked this calf 

 only to find that the owner would not price him. 

 The young man wanted a Cotswold ram also and 

 when he found difficulty in getting the calf he 

 wanted he informed Mr. Stone that he would not 

 take one without the other, whereupon a deal for 

 both was promptly closed. It appears from this lit- 

 tle incident that Mr. Clark's shrewdness both as 

 a buyer and as a salesman, afterwards so generally 



and look after orders and I thought it was more than I could 

 handle. I was about a year there when he said, 'Thomas, I am 

 going to raise your wages again. I said, 'That is all right as 

 far as I am concerned; I am very glad, but I didn't ask you.' 

 He said, 'I will give you $75 a month and your board.' I said, 'I 

 should not ask you for any more than I am getting, but if I 

 can earn it I am glad to accept it.' I worked there at $75 a 

 month for the next year. So finally at the end of the year I 

 made arrangements to move to Elyria. 



"Mr. Probert came to me one Saturday after the market was 

 closed and said, 'Is it a fact that you are going to leave?' I said, 

 'Yes, that's what I intend to do, Mr. Probert.' I told him I was 

 going to get married and was also going into the cattle busi- 

 ness. I said, 'I have been among those cattle all my life and 

 I feel out of place in the market.' He said, 'I don't see what 

 you want to do that for.' I said, 'Well, I think some day or 

 another I will make a cattleman.' He said, 'You need not leave 

 on account of wages. If you want your wages raised I will raise 

 them for you.' I said, 'I don't ask you for a raise. I think you 

 are paying me every bi't I am earning but I have made up my 

 mind to start for myself and want to raise some cattle and 

 mean to get a little farm outside of the butcher business.' He 

 said, 'I think you are making a mistake.' I said, 'I may be, but 

 my ambition is to be some place where I can raise cattle.' He 

 said, 'I will give you $100 a month.' I said, 'I appreciate your 

 offer and kindness but I have made arrangements to go to Elyria 

 and start a market. I have a brother-in-law up there and I 

 thought as long as we went into the market together I could 

 also run a farm.' He said, 'Well, maybe you are right.' When 

 the time came for me to leave, he said to me when we settled 

 up, 'Thomas, I hate to have you leave. It may be best for you 

 but I think you have made a mistake. But I tell you if ever you 

 want $500 or $1,000 or $5,000 you can come to me and get it.' 1 

 thanked him and then left. 



"After this I went into business with my brother-in-law, Mr. 

 Heal. We hadn't any money to buy a farm but I rented a little 

 land near town. I said to him, I will do the buying of the 

 cattle for you to butcher; or if at any time you want to go out 

 and buy, I will tend the market.' So I rented the farm and 

 started to raise a few purebred cattle, and that was how I began 

 Hereford breeding." 



