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Show 'WayBackWhen By JEANNE gi:nt;uai, was school ieaciiiju SOMETIMES one small Incident changes a whole life's trend, and leads to prominence beyond all previous dreams. We all recall one or two unexpected happenings In our own lives which changed their wholo course. John J. Pershing, who rose to be general of all the United States tirmy, might have had an entirely different life had ho not taken advantage ad-vantage of a lucky opportunity. He was born In lUliO at Laclede, Mo. His father was boss of a railroad gang and, later, a farmer. John quit school when he was thirteen to work on the farm, digging fence holes, herding sheep, planting corn, nil the usual Jobs that are the lot of a farm boy. Ambitious to be a lawyer, law-yer, he studied night after night, in 1870, he got a Job as teacher In Prairie Mount, Mo., and saved most of the $40 per month he re- 1 ceived to study law at Kirksville Nurrr.al school. Then came the Incident which changed his whole life. Jack Persh-i Persh-i i::g taw an advertisement annour.c- ir.g competitive examinations for West Point. He had only two weeks to prepare, but he won the appointment. appoint-ment. At West Point he won prominence prom-inence as president of his class and as first captain of the corps of cadets. ca-dets. Possessing the characteristics cf a perfect soldier, his assignments I after graduation into the army j were marked with success. While a military instructor at tie Univer-j Univer-j sity of Nebraska, he resumed his low studies and took his degree. I Since the army conducts its own military courts, this gave Pershing 1 an opportunity to combine his busi-! busi-! ness love with his soldierly success. 1 When the World war broke out he ) was made general of the U. S. army. 1 . FAMED TENOR MIGHT HAVE BEEN A CLERK SOMETIMES parents despair unnecessarily un-necessarily about their children. Just because a youngster shows no aptitude for the job his parents may I choose for him is no indication that failure awaits him. ' If John McCormack had followed i the plans of his father he might 1 have been a Catholic priest. The I famous tenor was born in Atlilone, i Ireland, in 1SS4, fourth of eleven j children. His father worked in the woolen mills of the town and the family was very poor. John attended at-tended the Catholic schools and was j an excellent student winning a ! scholarship to college. There he studied for the priesthood. At an early age John McCor-mack's McCor-mack's voice showed promise and a the age of nine he sang in a school entertainment Music was not one of the subjects offered at college, and so John had no opportunity oppor-tunity to receive training for his voice. It did not occur to him at that time that singing would be his profession. However, he did decide against becoming a priest, which must have been a hard blow for his father. But the man did not lack understanding and he encouraged the boy in his desire to become a civil service clerk. When John failed in the entrance examinations at the school where he would receive re-ceive his training, and when given a second chance forgot the appointment appoint-ment his father must have truly despaired. Then it began to dawn on John McCormack that singing was his true vocation. He had loved to sing all his life. He went to Dublin and got a job in the Marlborough Street cathedral choir at $125 a year. He began to gain more and more recognition, rec-ognition, sang for recordings of the Edison and Gramaphone companies, compa-nies, and eventually became a star of opera. Today he is known the world over for his golden tenor. WNU Service. |