Memories from the Birthplace House #2
The following passage comes from MEMORANDA: Being a Statement by an Engineer, Theodore J. Hoover, 1939
Vivid memory begins with the forge in my father’s shop. . . . The shoeing of the large draft horses was an interesting operation, and led to my attributing impossible physical strength to my father because he could hold them by the leg; but of what use is a father, if he be not the bearer of heroic qualities of strength, mind and heart?
For my fourth birthday father made me a wonderful sled, and wisely, to make the gift more appreciated, allowed me to watch the process of its manufacture. He fashioned the runners of steel and devoted much care to the making and ornamentation thereof; the wagon-maker made the top, and it was painted red with green stripes, and my father’s love name for me, “Taddie,” painted across the front in large letters. Though highly appreciated at the time, this sled caused me disappointment a few years later, because of an actual or imagined deficiency in coasting speed, and I put it aside in favour of a proper purchased coaster as soon as I could save up the necessary funds. What would I not give now to have that red sled, the handiwork of my father!
michaela lezine October 11, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Dear Herbert hoover museum employee, my name is Michaela lezine and I am in 5th grade. What I learned was that Herbert hoover was a great humanitarian and his father was a blacksmith and that he studied geology. What I also learned is that he met a lady out in Stanford who also studied geology her name was Lou henry and they had been married and had two children. What was cool about it was that you could see his house from his grave. The movie was cool to! Then it was cool was that he met j.f.k and one day a boy walked up to Herbert hoover and Herbert said were do you go to school and he looked up to him and said I don’t go to school so Herbert started a school on the mountain called the mountain school . Then he got blamed for the great depression and he left the white house forever.
Sincerely,
michaela