Caddy Buddy books

Banks was a man of humble origin.
He used to be known as the Waltham Bobbin Boy. He worked
in his boyhood and youth in a factory in Waltham. He had
very early a passion for reading. When Felton was inaugurated
President of Harvard, Banks was Governor. As is the custom,
he represented the Commonwealth and inducted the new President
into office. There were famous speakers at the Dinner,--
Daniel Webster, old Josiah Quincy, Edward Everett, Dr. Walker,
Winthrop, and Felton himself. But the Governor's speech was
the best of the whole. He described the time of his poverty
in his youth when he used to work in a mill five days in a
week, and on Saturday walk ten miles to Boston to spend the
day in the Athenaeum Library and ten miles back at night.
He told how he used to peer in through the gate as he passed
Harvard College with an infinite longing for the treasures
of learning that were inside. That refined and fastidious
audience was stirred by an unwonted emotion.
The older public men of Massachusetts did not take very kindly
to Banks. He was a man of the people.


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