Chris Eboch

Written under the name M.M. Eboch, MILTON HERSHEY, YOUNG CHOCOLATIER is a biography of chocolate king Milton Hershey. After a tumultuous childhood, Milton started work at an ice cream parlor at age 14. At 18, he opened his own confectionery shop -- and lost it six years later. After a string of failures, he finally found success -- and went on to start a school for underprivileged children that remains to this day. This book is part of Simon & Schuster's Childhood of Famous Americans series.

Exerpt:

Milton’s First Job

      Milton bounced into the kitchen and greeted his mother and aunt. Mattie offered her cheek for a kiss. “You are cheerful this morning.”
      Milton grinned. “No more school!”
      “Milton is nearly fourteen now,” his mother said proudly. “It is time for him to choose a career.”
      “You finally got your father to give up on the idea of more schooling?” his aunt asked.
      Milton shrugged. “We can’t afford it.” Henry Hershey was the only one who was disappointed about that. Milton did not add that his teacher thought he should leave. The teacher said that Milton would never learn anything.
      Mattie gave Milton a glass of buttermilk. “So what will you do with yourself now?”
      “Enjoy summer.”
      His aunt chuckled. “Isn’t that just like a boy?”
      “But you will have to make a decision soon,” his mother said. “You are a man now.”
      Milton nodded, his mouth full of popover.
      “I suppose you want to be a farmer, like your father,” Aunt Mattie teased.
      Fanny snorted and went back to making a broom. Milton shook his head. “I’d like to work in town, maybe as a shopkeeper.” Visits to the city had always been a treat. How fun it would be to live there!
      His aunt nodded. “That is respectable work. We will see what we can do for you.”
      Milton laughed. “No hurry.” He was glad to be out of the one-room schoolhouse. He would no longer struggle to learn reading, writing and arithmetic.
      “When I’m a businessman, I’ll buy you a house in the city,” he told his mother. “And you won’t have to work so hard anymore.”
      She smiled. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t work. But I’ll look forward to that house. Perhaps something with two stories, and a big wraparound porch?”
      They built their dream house laughingly. Milton imagined it filled with all the latest gadgets. “We’ll have gas put in, and lights in every room. No more carrying a lantern around! I’ll get you one of those new carpet sweepers, and a washing machine with a hand crank.”
      Fanny shook her head. “I wouldn’t know what to do with such things.”
      The door swung open and Henry Hershey strode in beaming. “Well, my boy, good news. I have found a job for you.”
      Milton stared at his father with his heart sinking. What kind of job would Henry think of as a good?
      Henry tossed his hat aside and sat at the table. “Yes, my boy, I only wish I had been so lucky at your age. You will be joining an honorable profession.”
      Milton forced himself to ask, “What is the job, Papa?”
      “You, my boy, will be a printer’s apprentice! Samuel Ernst has agreed to take you on.” Henry leaned forward. “It is a perfect opportunity. If you work hard, you may yet become a writer or even a newspaper editor.”
      Milton wished his father would give up on that dream, for both of them. He knew his father and Mr. Ernst had a long-running argument about Henry’s writing. Mr. Ernst said Henry’s stories were not suitable for his religious readers. Henry took the criticism in his good-natured way, but he always held out hope that the next time would be different.
      Why should Milton have a better chance? He didn’t even have his father’s storytelling skill. And the printer’s shop was in Gap, a small town, not the bustling city. Still, it was a job away from the farm. It might not be so bad.