The story of the Sun, New York, 1833-1918 / by Frank M. O'Brien.

THE EARLIER CAREER OF DANA

203

The father failed in business at Hinsdale when Charles
was a child, and the family moved to Gaines, a village
in western New York, where Anderson Dana became a
farmer. Here the mother died, leaving four childrenCharles Anderson, aged nine; Junius, seven; Maria,
three, and David, an infant. The widower went to the
home of Mrs. Dana's parents near Guildhall, Vermont,
and there the children were divided among relatives.
Charles was sent to live with his uncle, David Denison,
on a farm in the Connecticut River Valley.
There was a good teacher at the school near by, and
at the age of ten Charles was considered as proficient in
his English studies as many boys of fifteen. When he
was twelve he had added some Latin to the three R's.
In the judgment of that day he was fit to go to work.
His uncle, William Dana, was part owner of the general
store of Staats & Dana, in Buffalo, New York, whither
the boy was sent by stage-coach. He made himself handy in the store and lived at his uncle's
house.
Buffalo, a distributing place for freight sent West on
the Erie Canal, had a population of only fifteen thousand in 1831. Many of Staats & Dana's customers were
Indians, and young Charles added to the store's efficiency by learning the Seneca language. At night he
continued his pursuit of Latin, tackled Greek, read what
volumes of Tom Paine he could buy at a book-shop
next door, and followed the career, military and political, of the strenuous Andrew Jackson. When he had a
day off he went fishing in the Niagara River or visited
the Indian reservation.
He was a normal, healthy lad, even if he knew more
Latin than he should. When war threatened with Great
Britain over the Caroline affair, Dana joined the City
Guard and had a brief ambition to be a soldier. He