Leaving Home

When young Astor was sixteen, his slowly matured plans reached a climax. He had waited two years for muscle to harden and manhood to develop. Now his decision was made. Without money, and without knowing a word of English, John Jacob Astor resolved to go to America. Since there was no hope of financial aid to smooth his passage thither, he set his sagacious head to laying a path for his feet. His plan was to work his way to London, and there spend as long a period as necessary, earning and saving money, and learning the English language.

One of the stories that had floated back from the "New Land" to the old homes, had for its import, the fact that immigrants were viewed in the light of prey on foreign shores, that one needed to be very wise and sharp on his own account, not to be cheated. How could a country lad of Baden hope to compete fairly in such a game, unless he understood the English language, and had some financial backing to make him independent of would-be deceivers? These benefits John Jacob Astor decided to make his own, before he lifted his foot from the shores of the old world.

Naturally, Jacob Astor tried to hold his last son from leaving home, but when he could no longer move the boy to his way of thinking, he gave a reluctant consent to his departure.

Waldorf was nearly three hundred miles from the sea-port in Holland, from which young Astor would take ship for England, but the little town was also close to the great Black Forest, where large quantities of timber were cut. Instead of being floated, this timber was rowed down the Rhine by sixty or eighty men to a raft. These men were paid generous wages as the work was hard.

John Jacob Astor by this time was a stout, strong youth, very well set up, though a little under size. He felt he could compete successfully with the average oarsman on the Rhine, and in this way earn the money to take him to London.

He set out from home on foot upon the eventful morning, with a bundle of clothes hung from a stick over one shoulder, and about two dollars in his pocket. He meant to walk to the river only a few miles distant. Saying good-bye, at last, wasn't exactly easy, much as he had longed for the day of departure to come. The privations of life in Waldorf grew small in his eyes, and natural affection for home and kindred threatened to turn his going into a sad event, rather than a joyous release.

His friends watched him out of town, down the road to the Rhine, one more boy leaving his native village to be swallowed up by the great world, or to lift his head above the rest and be heard from again.

Valentine Jeune belonged to the class of school teachers of whom Martin Luther's was an honored example. Luther's teacher was accustomed, when he entered the school room, to bow first to the boys in the room, and next to the girls. "For in these boys before me," he said, "I see the future burgomasters, lawyers, doctors, merchants and theologians of Germany, and in the girls the mothers of great men."

Young Astor's old teacher came to say good-bye with the rest, and as the boy was lost to sight, he turned to those near him, and said: "I am not afraid for John Jacob; he'll get through the world. He has a clear head, and everything right behind the ears."

The composed, intelligent look in the boy's eyes, as he bade his friends good-bye in manly fashion, bore out his teacher's opinion.

Then Waldorf went back to its store-keeping and farming, its brewing and baking, its home-making and teaching, and its raising of boys, and John Jacob Astor strode on toward the Rhine.

The road over which he walked was cultivated on either side. Early vegetables were putting out green shoots, and the wealth of clover and beautiful wild flowers made a pleasing path for his feet. After a little he passed men and women working in the fields. Loaded carts went by drawn by cows, and children eyed him as they walked along. Each of his fellow countrymen wished him "Guten Morgen," but John Astor hardly heard them. His eyes were full of tears, and his heart thumped till it seemed to fill his throat. His feelings, which he had proudly held in check as he left his home town, had swept back to overwhelm him.

When he reached a secluded place, he sat down under a tree near the road, the red-tiled roofs of Waldorf still in sight in the distance. In spite of the hardships of his boyhood, all that had been dear and uplifting and kindly returned to his remembrance, and met there the current of outgoing aspiration, the flood-tide of hope for the future. The largeness of life took possession of him, and laid hold of the heart of his young manhood. He found himself, under the tree on the Rhine road, and there he made three resolutions: "To be honest, and industrious, and not to gamble." After that he went on with fresh courage.

The young traveler found other adventurers at the water's edge, also ready to earn their passage to England, as oarsmen on the rafts, for it was a favorite method of covering this part of the journey. Rowing the great logs was hard work, but each oarsman had his hope and his destination.

Most of the workers were young, and all were full of large expectations. Altogether they had a merry time of it, cheering their toil with jokes and songs by night and day. John Jacob entered into the new occupation with enthusiasm, glad of all the muscle he had gained and toughened carrying heavy baskets for his father. Food was supplied them on the journey, and the stop-offs to build camp fires in the forest, with their promise of hot food and drink, were looked forward to as happy oases in the trip.

On the fourteenth day after leaving home, young Astor found himself at a Dutch sea-port (probably Amsterdam) with ten dollars in his pockets, a larger sum of money than he had ever possessed before. He took passage for London, where he landed a few days later, totally unfamiliar with place or language, but fortunate in having an older brother to pave the way for him. Though John Jacob and his brother George had not seen each other for years, they met with true German warmth, and George Astor assisted his younger brother to procure employment, probably in the flute and piano manufactory of Astor and Broadwood.