Early Years
Gladden was born in 1836 in Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania to devout parents as Solomon Washington Gladden. Gladden's father died when he was six and he spent much of his childhood living with his uncle on a farm in Owego, New York. At the time, western New York State was known as the Burned-Over District because it had been the center of a number of religious revivals. He joined the temperance movement as a boy.
Gladden became a journalist at the age of 16 and changed his name around the same time. However, he was keen to become a clergyman studying at the Owego Free Academy and graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. While at Williams, Gladden wrote its alma mater song, The Mountains.
Read more about this topic: Washington Gladden
Famous quotes containing the words early years, early and/or years:
“Parents ... are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don’t fulfil the promise of their early years.”
—Anthony Powell (b. 1905)
“The conviction that the best way to prepare children for a harsh, rapidly changing world is to introduce formal instruction at an early age is wrong. There is simply no evidence to support it, and considerable evidence against it. Starting children early academically has not worked in the past and is not working now.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“[He said] “Mary, don’t be a fool, nobody’s asked you to speak publicly in seventy years and they’re not going to start now.””
—Mary Boyda (b. 1923)