When I was young I was non-educated Jewish boy named Ehrich. I was born in Appleton, Wisconsin in the year 1874. My father was an impoverished rabbi, but couldn't speak any English so congregation lost patience in his Old World services provided in German. They wanted a new rabbi that spoke English.
My family moved to Milwaukee and my father failed at his job there too. I had to do something to help the family! To lift part of the burden of them like paying for my food and clothes, I decided to run away from home so they would have one less mouth to feed. I was only twelve years old when I decided to do this.
When I ran away from home, the first thing I wanted to do was to work so that I could send money back home to my family. To do this, I hopped on a freight train that I thought was heading to Galveston, Texas so that I could find some work there. I was wrong, the train was headed for Kansas City, Missouri. I tried following wagons hoping that they would lead to Galveston, but then I found myself back in Wisconsin all over again. I found work in exchange for a meal and a place to sleep in a small village called Delavan in Wisconsin. Later I found out that my father had moved to New York! I set on my way to New York where I got a job as a messenger boy. I sent a decent amount of money to my father, who was now working as a Hebrew Teacher.
As I got older, I started to help my family quite a bit. I also discovered my love for running and I decided to start competing in races. I felt great feeling the wind blasting in my face when ever I would run. I also felt very proud to be wearing all those medals from winning several sprints.
