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Reminiscences
Of Apprentice Days In Germany

John N. Oswald, the veteran undertaker of this place, is known to everybody in Lebanon and the central portion of this county, having been in business at the same stand here for a period of thirty-five years. Just thirty-seven years ago he first came to Lebanon having prior to that time worked at his trade in the east.

Mr. Oswald is a native of a small province in the Southern part of Germany, and delights to talk of the experiences of his early life. The other day a Star man was entertained by some accounts of his early life which, while not given for publication, will be of interest to his large acquaintance throughout the country.

At an early age his father died and when he was seven years old he had to begin making his way through the world, and for some years worked for a farmer. Later he developed a taste for working in wood and then became an apprentice to a cabinet-maker. It was the law in that country then that a young man, before he could become a licensed workman, must work at his trade for one year at least one hundred miles form home, the object being no doubt, to accustom the young workman to pursuing his vocation among strangers. This was young Oswald’s first experience in leaving home, which was a sad time for both himself and mother.

Some time after he had gone away, he being then about seventeen years old, a letter came from his mother, who, mother-like fearing that among strangers and new surroundings, her boy would yield to temptation, wrote him a letter full of motherly love and advice, the substance of it being, “Dare to do right, and fear God.” Those ho have known Mr. Oswald for a third of a century must know that that mother’s advice was heeded, for it is well known that his whole life has been lived up to the text of that advice given nearly sixty years ato. And its influence is farther shown from the fact this letter, once so white and clearly written, though now faded and dim, is still treasured by Mr. Oswald, and, said he, “when I am gone I have requested that his letter be placed upon my breast.” Wonderful mother’s influence!

After he had been away from home more than a year he one day received word that his mother was very sick and to come. As soon as he could get ready he started on foot and by evening of the next day, just twenty-four hours from the time he started, he reached home, having walked nearly the entire distance of more than one hundred miles, and arrived in time to receive his mother’s dying blessing. The roads in that country were very good and the journey was not so difficult as a similar one would be in this country. At a later date, in company with several fellow-workmen, Mr. Oswald walked to Vienna, a distance of eight hundred miles, where he worked in some large furniture factories. At the age of twenty-seven he decided to try his fortune in America and came to New York.

These are some of the trials a young man had to face a half century or more ago in a foreign country, but in this instance, at least, they served only to develop an honest man and good citizen. May 12, last, Mr. Oswald had attained his seventy-fourth year.

Source: The Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio, Thursday June 7, 1900, page 1 column 2
[copy obtained from microfilm available at the Warren County Genealogical Society]