This went on for a number of sorties and retreats until Uncle Luther took a hand. He trimmed the bristles off an old broom and gave it to the boy, showing him how to swing it. Uncle Luther went back into the house and Dwight took the field with his new weapon. The gander charged, Dwight let out a yell and ran toward the bird, brandishing the broomstick. The gander, astonished at this new behavior on the part of his adversary, turned to run away. Dwight landed a smack on his backside and the gander withdrew. Thereafter, the gander continued his threatening behavior but never ventured within range of the broomstick again. Dwight said many years later that he learned a valuable lesson that day: never parley except from a position of strength.

            Arthur appears to have been somewhat aloof in his dealings with his siblings. Dwight commented that his eldest brother had little interest in athletics and less in scrapping with his little brothers. Ed was a year and a half older than Dwight and they developed a ferocious sibling rivalry. They fought constantly, arguing, wrestling, and fist-fighting. Ed always won the physical contests, being bigger and stronger.

            Dwight started first grade at the Lincoln Grade School when he was six and learned a valuable life lesson on the first day. Out on the playground one of the big boys decided to have some fun and took out after him, uttering blood-thirsty threats. Terrified, Dwight ran around and around the playground, the bully right behind him. To his amazement, Arthur stepped in and stopped the hazing. This gave Dwight much food for thought on the subject of allies and big brothers. He stayed at Lincoln through sixth grade then went to Garfield for seventh and eighth grades. Dwight did not like school but found some satisfaction in the fact that he could read as well as anyone in his class and better than most. He attributed this to the fact that his family gathered nightly for Bible reading. While David and Ida did most of the reading, the boys were given turns to read. This was considered an honor and the turn ended when the boy made a mistake so they tried hard to get it right.

            David’s brother, Abraham Lincoln Eisenhower, was a largely self-taught veterinarian with a thriving practice. Dwight was seven when the Spanish-American War started and Uncle Abe, being too busy to fetch the paper for himself, hired the boy to get it for him at a penny a day. Uncle Abe was not a pacifist; he was delighted at U.S. successes, outraged at their setbacks, and Dwight was there to hear it all. Dwight and his friends reenacted Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill on a rise near the Eisenhower home. Ida, hearing the battle, strode forth and put a stop to it. Eisenhowers were not soldiers. Nor were Stovers. Enough said. Dwight and his buddies found another rise (actual hills were scarce in Abilene) to charge up, out of sight and hearing of his mother.

            Suppertime and nightly devotions were about the only times that David was with his family. He spent most of the time he was home in his room, reading or working on a complicated theory he was developing regarding ancient Egypt. Thus, Ida didn’t object when Dwight struck up a close friendship with Bob Davis, a middle-aged bachelor who made his living by fishing, hunting, and trapping. Dwight considered him one of the great teachers in his life. From the time Dwight was eight until he was sixteen, he spent every moment he could in the company of Bob Davis, often on camping trips. Bob supplemented Ida’s cooking lessons with campfire cooking experience.

            Bob was a philosopher and imparted many of the axioms that Dwight treasured then and in later years pertaining to a man’s responsibility to himself and his fellows, such as not seeking trouble but not running from it. One of the most important subjects he taught Dwight was poker. Bob couldn’t read or write but he knew enough math to have evolved a system of percentages in playing poker. Dwight was a receptive student and later did very well supplementing his meager army pay with poker winnings. Bob also taught him to fish and took him hunting. Dwight hunted rabbits and quail and his brothers conceded that he was the best shot among them. He also liked fishing in Mud Creek – the official name was Serpentine Creek. It was too muddy for trout but catfish abounded.

            Dwight was eight when the family moved from the tiny South Second Street house to the house they bought from Uncle Abe Eisenhower, who had decided to give up his veterinary practice and become a missionary to the Indians in Oklahoma. The house had two stories and three bedrooms. David and Ida and baby Earl took one of the two large bedrooms, while Ed, Dwight, and Roy shared the other. Arthur was originally allotted the very small third bedroom but Ida hired a high school girl to help with the housework and Arthur had to move in with his younger brothers. The new place had a large barn and three acres for some pasture and an enormous vegetable garden and an orchard. Ida immediately set the boys to work caring for the milk cows, horses, pigs, ducks, and chickens, as well as weeding the huge vegetable garden. Grandfather Eisenhower had sold his farm and moved to town where he lived across the alley from Dwight’s family.

            When Dwight was nearly ten, Ida presented the family with their final addition, Milton. That same year Grandfather Eisenhower had two rooms built onto David and Ida’s house, one for himself and one for his son and daughter-in-law. That eased the overcrowding among the boys as they could share two rooms. Arthur soon left school and home and went to Kansas City to find work in a bank. That left one room for Ed and Dwight and the other for Roy and Earl. Milton slept in the cradle in his parents’ room.

            Discipline in the Eisenhower home was dealt with on two levels. Minor infractions were handled by Ida, major infractions by David. Ida sometimes spanked the boys but more often governed by talking to them, explaining why some things were forbidden and what the consequences were apt to be. She was good at adapting her talks to each boy for maximum effect. David’s method was usually corporal punishment with nothing consistent or psychological about it. For instance, when he observed Dwight being chased by another boy, he demanded why Dwight allowed it. Dwight replied that if he fought the boy, his father would whip him, no matter if he won or lost. David sent him to confront the boy and Dwight took satisfaction in throwing him to the ground, threatening him with the direst bodily injury, and then sending him off in scorn. The lesson he learned from this, he later said, was that bluff is often efficacious.

            The Halloween he was ten, Dwight got an object lesson in the two parental forms of discipline. Arthur and Ed were going out on Halloween night and Dwight, of course, wanted to go with them. Ida and David decreed that he was too young and he threw a tantrum. He flew out into the yard and pummeled an apple tree trunk until his hands were bruised and bloody, crying at the top of his capacity. David took a switch to him and sent him to bed. Ida let him cry for awhile then sat beside him and talked to him while she washed his hands and applied salve and bandages. She explained that such tantrums hurt no one but himself and urged him to think the episode over and see if he didn’t agree. He said years later that this was one of the most important lessons of his life and that he always strove afterwards not to hate anyone and to conceal his anger.

            Another hard lesson occurred that year. Earl was three and he and Dwight were in the workshop attached to the barn where Dwight was making some kind of toy. He had carefully placed a knife up on a windowsill, out of Earl’s reach, when they first arrived. Dwight was engrossed in his project and didn’t notice that Earl had climbed up on a box and got the knife. The little boy screamed and Dwight whirled around to see that his brother had jumped or fallen off the box with the knife in his hand and had punctured his eyeball. Horrified, Dwight caught him up and ran into the kitchen with him. Ida sent for the doctor but there wasn’t much to be done at that time. Even though his parents didn’t blame him for the accident, Dwight blamed himself all his life, especially when Earl later completely lost the sight in the eye in another accident while playing a game with Milton.

            Although Dwight had no burning desire to be a warrior as he grew up, his favorite reading was ancient history. He neglected his other homework and his chores in order to read about Greek and Roman history until Ida locked his books in a cupboard. Then one day he found the key. After that, whenever his mother was occupied outside the house, he would unlock the cupboard and read about Marathon, Cannae, Salamis, and other ancient battles. Hannibal was his favorite of the generals, partly because he was the underdog and partly because he read that everything we know about Hannibal was written by his enemies. This seemed to Dwight sad yet compelling in that even his enemies must admire Hannibal and admit his greatness.

            As his historical interests widened, he studied Napoleon, Gustavus Adolphus, and the American military heroes. George Washington was his favorite then. He particularly admired Washington’s courage and daring, his patience and self-sacrifice, his sheer refusal to be beaten. Dwight said frankly in his memoirs that he found war romantic, adventurous, and chivalric. Among his school subjects, Dwight liked spelling because of its delightful vagaries and math because it had no vagaries – an answer was either right or wrong, no waffling was possible.

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