Mending a Watch

This first memorable event of Henry Ford’s childhood occurred on a Sunday in the spring of his eleventh year.

On this particular Sunday morning, Henry was more than usually rebellious. It was the first week he had been allowed to leave off his shoes and socks for the summer, and Henry had all a country boy’s ardor for “going barefoot.” To cramp his joyously liberated toes again into stuffy, leather shoes seemed to him an outrage. He resented his white collar, too, and the immaculate little suit his mother cautioned him to keep clean. He was not sullen about it. He merely remarked frankly that he hated their old…