Chapter 3 1 Omaha

Like a gem set in emerald, it shines brightly on the west bank of the Missouri River. Omaha, the magnificent city in the west, is a miracle of entrepreneurship, ability, and endeavor. —Telephone Company Propaganda, Warren, 6 pounds and 5 weeks premature, in 1900 almost from the day Dr. Pollard woke him up in the world.Buffett seems to be hungry for numbers.As a kid, he and his buddies, Bob and Russell, would spend afternoons on the front porch of the Russell home: overlooking a busy intersection, jotting down the license plate numbers of passing vehicles.After dusk fell, they went back to the house, unfolded the Omaha World-Herald, counted the occurrences of each letter, and filled the scratch paper with changing numbers densely, as if they had found the "European style" Norm" puzzle answer.

Russell used to go to the almanac and read out a bunch of city lists, while Warren reported the population of each city.Russell recalled nearly half a century later: "At that time, I named a city, and he would report it quickly and accurately. For example, I said: Davenport in Iowa, Topeka in Kansas, and Topeka in Ohio." Akron, etc. Even if I read 10 cities, he'll get every number right." Baseball points, horse race odds -- every number his precocious memory craves .When Warren freshened up and sat in the pews of the Presbyterian church in Dundee, he would pass his Sundays counting the lives and deaths of religious composers, with a paddle in hand And a ball, standing in the bedroom doing calculations for hours.He also played Monopoli - counting his imaginary fortunes.

Warren has blue eyes, a fair complexion and a pink chin.It's not just numbers that interest him, but money.His first possession was a nickel-plated wallet given to him at Christmas by Aunt Alice, which he always wore proudly on his belt.When he was just 5 years old, Warren set up a gum stand in the aisle of his family's house and peddled it to passers-by.Then he started selling lemonade—not this time on the quiet street where the Buffetts lived, but in front of the Russells, where downtown was bustling. At the age of 9, Warren and Russell counted the caps coming out of the soda machine at the gas station across from Russell's house.This is not a frivolous move, but simple market research.How many glasses of orange juice are there?How much cola and non-alcoholic drinks are there?Two young boys hauled the caps to a van and stored them in piles in the Warrens' basement.They want to know: Which brand sells the most?Who has the most prosperous business?

When most kids knew nothing about business, Warren got rolls of ticker tape from his father, a stockbroker, and spread them on the floor, using his father's standards. Poor's index to interpret these quote symbols.He also scours the greens of local golf courses for used but salable golf balls.He also came to Acre.SA.Ben (Ak-Sar-Ben) racetrack, searching around on the sawdust floor, turning over the torn and discarded stubs, he can often find some winning tickets that were accidentally thrown away .During the hot Nebraska summers, Warren and Russell would carry golf clubs for the big bucks at Omaha Country Club for $3.In the quiet twilight of the American Midwest in the late afternoon, they dangled on the tackle on Russell's front porch.That's when the traffic and clanking of trams in Nashes and Studebakers formed an idea in Warren's mind.Warren would say, “If only there was a way to make some money off of them,” seeing the many cars that happened to pass in front of Russell’s house.Russell's mother, Evelyn, recalled Warren 50 years later, when he said to her, "These cars! It's a shame you don't make money from people passing by." As if Russell As if a tollbooth could be set up on North 52nd Street, he always said, "What a pity, Mrs. Russell."

① Ak—Sar—Ben: Nebraska is spelled backwards. So what exactly is the root of all this? Of the three children in the family, Warren is the second and only son.His mother was a small, vivacious woman from a small town in Nebraska.She's a good housewife and has a "very good numbers mind".Warren's father was both serious and kind, and he had a pivotal influence on Warren's life.It was he who unfolded a world of stocks and bonds before Warren's eyes and planted the seeds of what was to come.But, as far as is known, Howard.Buffett's numbers savvy is not quite the same as his son's, and he is not keen on making money.So what was it that made Warren emerge from such a well-bred, comfortable home—to crawl across the racetrack floor as a breeding ground for pearl oysters?What is it that enabled him to perform his stunt many years later: he could calculate a large amount of data in his head, and he could remember the vast data as easily as he remembered the population of Akron, which shocked his colleagues in the business world time and time again ?Warren's sister Roberta asserted: "It must be genetic."

The Buffett family is suave, sweet-natured, and tenacious.They are proficient in business, but spend their money cautiously.The earliest generation of people in the United States called Buffett: John.Buffett is a textile worker in coarse serge in the Sugarlot region of France. In 1696, he married Hannah in Huntington, on the north shore of Long Island.Titus.The Buffetts stayed on Long Island as ranchers until after the Civil War, but they harbored an ambition that clashed with the family's thrift. 1867, Sydney.Homan.Buffett was hired, for his grandfather Zebulon.Buffett sweeps the ground.When Sydney heard that the wages were only 50 cents a day, he threw down his ax angrily and went west.He found a job and left Omaha in a wagon. In 1869, his SH Buffett grocery store opened.When Omaha was still in its infancy, the Buffetts were part of the city's business life.Their location is only 1.5 miles away from the forest scenic spot that later became the office of wealthy Americans.

Omaha's timber-framed buildings are flanked by jagged cliffs rising from the banks of the Missouri River.Although there are large plains below it, the city itself is mountainous and was once a barren land until an agreement with the Maha Indians (later Omaha) was signed in 1854 to open the territory of Nebraska. For people to live in peace. In 1859, when a man named Abraham.After Lincoln's Illinois Railroad lawyers visited the site, Nebraska entered an important period of development.A few years later, President Lincoln designated the city as the eastern terminus of the Federal Pacific Railroad.

sydney.Buffett's store opened at the prime time, three months after the rail link crossed the continent.Omaha has become "the end of greatness."It was filled at once by an influx of settlers, vagabonds, speculators, Civil War veterans, railroad workers, ex-convicts, and prostitutes.They occasionally patronize Buffett's shop.Sydney sold them some quail, wild duck and prairie chicken on the counter.Zebulon is skeptical about Sydney's career.In his letter to his 21-year-old grandson, he repeatedly emphasized that the slogan of the Buffett family's business is "based on prudence."

Don't expect to make a lot of money.But I hope your business will be better in the spring.If not, you should get out in time, pay off your debts, and maintain your credit, which is much more important than money. However, the young city prospered, and Sydney got richer with it.By the 1870s, Omaha had not only cast-iron buildings but also theaters.By the turn of the century, Omaha's Skyscrapers were erected, subways were built, and the population swelled to 140,000.Sydney built a larger store and brought his two sons into the business, the youngest of whom, Ernest—later Warren's grandfather—inherited the family business.He and his brother pursued a girl at the same time, and he won the girl's heart and married her, so the two brothers broke off contact. In 1915, Ernest left the downtown store and built a new home in the west of the city, named Buffett & Sons Store.

Buffett again shrewdly seized the moment.Residents of Omaha gradually moved to the west bank of the river.Ernest saw a potential opportunity in the suburbs and started a credit sales business.Soon after, chefs from rich families called to order from Buffett & Sons, and the business became more and more prosperous.And Ernest, still in the family stinginess style, paid the warehouse clerks $2 an hour for a shift, plus a commentary on the evils of the minimum wage and something like "socialist" admonitions. Tall and imposing Ernest isn't just running his store - he's completely tyrannying it.

Howard, Ernest's son -- Warren's father -- had no interest in becoming a third-generation grocer.Howard had the same independent mind as Ernest, but he was milder and less irascible.He worked on an oil pipeline in Wyoming, but his real interest was in the exercise of the mind.Howard was editor of the Nebraska Monthly when he was a student at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and he aspired to a career in journalism.Although he is not very handsome, he has dark hair and charming gaze.As the president of the group, he had criteria for choosing girls, but in his fourth grade, he met a girl who was average in every way except socially. Lila.Starr grew up in West Point, Nebraska, a desolate town of 2,200 people.Her father John.Anmon.Starr owns a weekly newspaper, the Cumming County Democrat.Most of the people in the town were German, so the English-speaking Stahl family belonged to foreigners. Lila's mother felt so lonely that she was bedridden and depressed most of the time.Lila, her brother and two sisters had to fend for themselves, and Lila also assisted her father in running the County Democracy News.From the fifth grade, she sat on a high stool to operate the printing by hand, and later used the movable type printing machine.Sometimes when the train stopped at West Point, she rushed aboard and asked passengers to fill in the news columns.Every Thursday, the tiny schoolgirl stood next to the giant printing press, clutching the sheets of newsprint and pulling them out one by one at just the right moment. During this period, Lila suffered from continuous and severe headaches, which coincided with the intense operation of the Democracy newspaper. After graduating from high school at age 16, Leila had to work for more than three years to pay for her tuition in Lincoln.She appears in Howard.In Buffett's office, he was looking for a job at the Nebraska Journal.Her experience back then made her language pungent, and also gave her a bitter humor.She was beautiful, with a petite frame just 5 feet tall, a supple personality, and lustrous, curly brunette hair. As she puts it, her "profession is marriage"—not an unrealistic course for a woman facing a return to West Point. Howard hired her and soon asked her out on a date.Both are deeply attracted to each other.As Howard neared graduation, he proposed to her.john.Starr is a very self-cultivated person. He had hoped that his daughter would finish college, but he still gave the young couple his deepest blessing.On the first day of Christmas in 1925, braving the severe cold of minus 10 degrees, their wedding was held in West Point.According to Lila's memoirs to her grandchildren, Howard later said to her: "Marrying you is the best deal I've ever done." Just got on the bus to Omaha. Howard once had a job in the newspaper industry, which was exactly what he dreamed of.But a friend of his father found him a $25-a-week position at an insurance company.Howard gave up what he loved The news was still buzzing for a while.As Lila said: "He obeyed his father's wishes, because his father funded his college." The couple moved into a two-story white flat-panel house with a fireplace on Barker Avenue.It's been a rough start for Lita.Raised by a disabled mother, she had no experience as a housewife.Since Howard needed a car, Leila took the bus when she was doing temporary secretary or printing jobs, and then she had to walk home to do a lot of housework.In the first few years, she sometimes earned more than Howard each week. In 1927, Leila underwent eye surgery.Her headaches have since returned.The following year, when her first child, Doris, was born, Leila had a fever of 105 degrees (Fahrenheit), which terrified almost everyone.Two years later, the couple had another son: Warren.Buffett.It was August 30, 1930, and a storm shredded 98-degree heat in the middle of a humid summer. From the very beginning, Warren was cautious beyond his years.He always bent his knees when he was learning to walk, as if that would keep him from falling too hard.When his mother took him and Doris to church, Doris would run around and get lost, but Warren would sit obediently next to his mother.He was called by Lila "a kid who rarely caused trouble". In pictures taken of Warren when he was two years old, he is a stocky, fair-skinned little fellow.He wears white lace-up boots and white socks.Holding a cube-shaped building block in one hand, with a shallow smile and deep eyes.His hair was blond at first, and then ochre, but there was no change in his disposition.He never wandered in unfamiliar places, nor caused trouble or picked trouble. Roberta, who is three years younger than Warren, often shielded him from bullies in the neighborhood.At one point, Howard brought home some boxing gloves and asked a boy to fight Warren.“They never even used those gloves,” Lila recalls. Warren was so quiet by nature that it inspired an instinctive protectiveness toward him in his sister and others.Warren doesn't seem to be born to fight. Warren's first few years were also the most difficult for the family.Howard was a securities salesman at the Union Street Bank at the time, and Ernest, who was stingy, thought this was a very uncertain occupation. He wrote to Warren's uncle Clarence: I know quite a lot about stocks. thorough.That is to say, anyone who has worked hard to save money until he is in his fifties is investing in the stock market, he is definitely a reckless fool, not just likely to be a fool. Howard wrote beside him: "This is really a compliment to my career." But within a year, Ernest's prophecy came true. On August 13, 1931—less than two weeks before Warren's first birthday—his father came home from get off work with the sad news that his bank had failed.It's a stark Depression-era scene of "loyalty" being shattered.His job was wiped out and his savings were wiped out.Ernest gave his son some time to pay off the grocery debt—a bitter pill for Howard, who had inherited the family's contempt for borrowing money. "Maintaining your reputation is much more important than money." Howard felt that the prospects were very bleak, so he considered moving his family back to West Point. But it didn't take long for Howard to declare his Buffett.Skranica & Co. opened in the Commonwealth State Bank building on Farnham Street.This street is where Warren later lived and worked.Howard and partner George.Sklenica together in the business of selling "investment securities, municipal and utility stocks and bonds."With the market's collapse eroding public trust, Howard now runs it only with his guts and desire.The Omaha area thought it was immune to the Great Depression, but when wheat prices plummeted in 1932 and farmers were on handouts, Omaha's Republicans resolutely voted Roosevelt overwhelmingly.In the second year, more than 11,000 people boarded the Remember to ask for relief.Buffett was established in this harsh environment.In the end, Sklenica was just a vain company, but it could let Howard find a place to hang his hat and charge a commission. His first business was long overdue and low commission.Ernest, the president of the Rotary Club of Omaha, informed his fellow Rotarians that his son had high expectations but knew little about stocks, and advised his staff not to leave the business to his son.Lila managed to put together a meal at the table, but she often cut herself short to keep Howard full.Life at home was so tight that Leila stopped joining her church circle, saving 29 cents for a pound of coffee. The Buffett family was plagued by harsh weather, as if the Midwest had entered the Great Depression. “The Great Depression came,” Leila wrote, describing it as “with a terrific 112-degree scorching heat.”The dust storm rolled in from Oklahoma, and the people of Omaha had to close their doors to avoid the invasion of locusts.On Warren's fourth birthday, a "scorching wind" blew paper plates and napkins to the floor, burying the entire front porch in red dust.Warren and Doris waited in the suffocating heat outside for the iceman to jump down from his horse-drawn cart and hand them some ice chips to keep in their mouths.In the cold winter, the situation is even worse than the hot summer.Warren and his sister were always bundled up, and merchants were afraid to turn off the motorcycle when they called to pay, lest the engine would not start. By the time Warren started school, his father's luck began to improve.When Warren was 6 years old, the Buffetts moved into a more spacious Tudor-style brick house with a pitched shingled roof on North 53rd Street in the suburbs.The difficult times that the Buffett family experienced have gradually faded away. But those ordeals seem to have had a profound effect on Warren, and after those difficult years he harbored a persistent desire to become very, very rich.He had the idea before he was 5 years old, and it has never been given up since. When Warren was 6 years old, the Buffett family took an unprecedented vacation to Lake Okoboji in northern Iowa, where they rented a cabin.Warren got six cans of Coke for 25 cents, and he went around the lake selling them for 5 cents apiece, making a 5-cent profit.Back in Omaha, Warren bought sodas from his father's grocery store and sold them door-to-door on summer nights when the other kids were just fighting in the streets. Since then, similar activities have never stopped, and Warren has his own purpose in making money; he is not earning pocket money, but is moving towards his ambition step by step. When Warren was 7 years old, he had a strangely high fever and was admitted to the hospital, where doctors removed his appendix.He was so weak that the doctors feared he would die.Even when his father brought his favorite noodle soup, Warren wouldn't eat a mouthful.But when he was alone, he took a pencil and filled the paper with numbers.He told the nurse that the figures represented his future fortune. "Although I don't have much money now," Warren said happily, "but one day, I will be very rich. My photo will also appear in the newspaper." Warren, struggling in the pain of death, is not From noodle soup, but from the dream of money to find spiritual support. Howard was determined not to put Warren through what he had endured.At the same time, as a father himself, he was unwilling to derogate his son like Ernest did.He has always shown confidence in Warren while being supportive of anything Warren does.So while Warren inherited his mother's cheerful disposition, his whole world revolved around his father. At 6 feet tall, Howard was the breadwinner of his family, physically and otherwise, working hard to support his family.Not only did he earn commissions, but he also had income from a small business in Omaha slaughterhouses, the South Omaha Feeders Company.He is not keen on money, but obsessed with religion and politics. He is a person who consciously abides by morality and is full of enthusiasm for his extremely conservative beliefs. courage. "He did the Lord's will," said a local banker. Howard thought that Roosevelt was devaluing the dollar, so he gave gold coins to the children and added many beautiful furnishings to the home, not only crystal chandeliers, sterling silver dishes, but also oriental tapestries. All of this reflects his view that tangible property is better than dollars.He even stocked up on canned goods and bought a farm, with the goal of finding a place for his family to take refuge in the midst of hyperinflation. Howard's emphasis on the principle of developing the habit of independent thought outlasted any of his political views.Gathering the children around, he recited to them a quote from Emerson: The greatest people are those who perfectly maintain their individuality in a noisy crowd. Howard also instilled religious values ​​in his children, but still used a secular approach to education.He taught an adult Sunday class and also served on a public school board.Hardly a week goes by without reminding the Warrens of their responsibilities—not just to God, but to society.He was fond of saying to them, "I don't ask you to take all the responsibility—but you don't absolve yourself of your own." Perhaps not uncommonly for a man of his day, Howard not only said the aphorism often, but lived it out.He doesn't even smoke or drink.If the securities of his favorite clients were not doing well, Howard would feel so guilty that he would buy them back into his account. If someone told him about some social ill, he would say to the other person: "You are indeed a good citizen. So what are you going to do about it? " He always sat in the red leather chair in the bedroom and listened to the gramophone playing Stephen in his ear.Forster's music, and his favorite hymns and marches.The stockbroker with the adorable dimples always lives by habit.He would often take the family to the bustling Russet Federal Station for a Sunday meal and then to Evans Ice Cream on Center Avenue.Although he was dressed in solemn black, his smile was gentle and bright.Howard's former assistant, Herbert."He had the demeanor of what you would imagine a father would have," Davis said. His children are afraid to disappoint their father.Doris didn't even want to sit with her beer-drinking friends, lest her father catch her and think she had fallen into a vice. “Father held all these high principles,” recalls Roberta, “and it made you feel like you had to be a good person.” Warren admired him the most.He was very close to his father, and seemed relaxed and peaceful in his presence. Warren once said to his anachronistic father in church, "There's no pop music that either you can sing or I can sing, and there's not a single one of us that we both can sing." Howard lovingly Called his son "Fireball". When Warren was 10 years old, Howard took him on the night train to New York—he took the children one by one.Lila watched as Warren headed out the door with his "best friend" in hand and his large stamp album under his arm.Their schedule included a baseball game, a mail tour, and a trip to "a place with Lionel's toy train."While on Wall Street, Warren went to the stock exchange. Warren was fascinated by stocks like any other kid is fascinated by a new type of airplane.He often went to Howard's growing stock exchange, which had moved to the seventeenth floor of the marble-columned Omaha National Bank building in Farnham.In his father's office, Warren used to stare intently at the stock and bond receipts stored in the gilded counter.In Warren's eyes, they have a kind of magical allure. Warren also used to come downstairs to Harris.Upham Stock Exchange.Since it is also in this building and is the source of stock quotes, it is very frequented by financial people.Jesse.Livermore was a little-known speculator on the West Coast. Whenever he came to town, he would patronize here, write an order on a piece of paper, and then leave without a word.Harris.Upham's brokers let the big-eared little Warren write stock prices on the blackboard. Back home, Warren started drawing a stock chart himself, watching its ups and downs, which led to his desire to explain those trends.At the age of 11, he decisively bought three shares of City Utilities preferred stock at $38 a share, plus three shares for his older sister Doris."I think he knew exactly what he was doing," Doris later recalled. "The kid was literally living with numbers." However, City Utilities shares fell to $27.After they fought to save it, the stock rose back to $40.After Warren sold the stock, he made a net profit of $5 in the stock market for the first time after deducting commissions. As a result, shortly after his stock was sold, the stock price rose to $200.This, too, became his first lesson in impatience. Warren does an even better job of keeping track of information.Inspired by the mathematics behind winning and losing, he and Russell developed an information system for runners.After a few days they found that the system worked, so they wrote their chosen numbers under the heading "Horse's Choice" and came to Acre with a pile of copies.SA.This racetrack.In Russell's words: "We found ourselves selling some. We waved them around and yelled 'buy a pony pick.' But because we didn't have a license, the business was quickly stopped. " Warren's performance is based on numbers, and he trusts numbers more than anything else.In contrast, he disapproved of the creeds handed down by his family, and even when he was very young, he seemed too mathematical and logical to make a leap of faith.He embraced the ideas of his father's ethics, but not because he was convinced of the existence of an invisible divinity.The only consequence of this crude logic for such an honest-minded man, especially as a boy, was a deep fear—the fear of death.And Warren was hit by it. Leila and Howard insisted that Warren go to Sunday school every week, even on days when the snow was four feet deep.When Warren sat in church and counted the life and death of those religious people, he actually had his own purpose. He wanted to know whether faithfulness could prolong life.Different from the life after death that other believers think, what he cares about is whether he can live longer in this life. He and Bob and Russell always sat on the tackle on Russell's front porch in the stillness of the afternoon.Then like a tornado blowing on the prairie, Warren would say, "Russell, there's something that scares me. I'm afraid of dying." Almost every year he brought it up -- and it left Russell deep impression.Russell felt that seemed out of touch with the rest of what he knew about Warren, who had always been happy.Sometimes Russell would put some bird food on the floor of the milk crate and catch a bird in a trap, and Warren would beg him each time not to hurt the bird.So Russell tied a rope to the lid of the box and let the bird out.But he was powerless to relieve Warren from what he called the fear of death. Russell always said, "If you do what God tells you to do, you'll succeed, you'll help others, and you'll walk away with a smile on your face." "Bob, but I'm scared," Warren would reply. Russell, who was a Roman Catholic, couldn't understand this, he didn't understand where the idea came from, and he couldn't understand why someone with such smooth sailing should have such deep fear.But there were aspects of Warren's family life that Russell was ignorant of. On the surface, Buffett's family is perfect: loving, prosperous, inspired by high morals, and family-centered, etc.Of course, these characteristics are indeed true existing.Leila often refers to the day she met Howard as "the luckiest day of my life." She treats her husband like a king—benevolent as he is, he is a king after all.As a practical woman, Lila had her own opinions about stocks, but she never mentioned these things to Howard, and even when she had a terrible headache, she tried her best not to disturb Howard's reading.She aspires to be a perfect wife.Warren's friends thought she was cute and petite, with a bright personality and a lovely smile—sweet, sociable, always excited, like a good witch of the North. But when the pressure to be perfect becomes too great, she takes out her wrath with God on Warren and his sister.Without any warning, this humorous and lovely woman will become unspeakable rage, cruel and selfish, and lash out at the children.Sometimes for hours on end.She scolded and belittled her children, thinking they hadn't done enough; she kept comparing, berating, searching for every fault she could think of. When Lila was in a rage, she seemed possessed by a demon, and nothing the Warrens did could escape her attention.Any slight disobedience will lead to her vicious reprimand, and even when they did nothing wrong at all, she will fabricate right and wrong out of thin air. From the perspective of the Warrens, Lila's temper was utterly unpredictable, which made it all the more terrifying, and once she flared up there was no escape from it.She was a strong woman, strong enough to run a movable type printing machine at the age of 11.If they struggled to break free, she would grab them and say "I'm not done yet".Then, suddenly, the storm was over, and she was a sweet little woman again. On one occasion in recent years, one of Warren's sons had just come home from school and called Lila to say hello. She suddenly vented all her anger on him, calling him a nasty little man, saying he didn't call often, and detailing all the hopeless failures of his character that she imagined, and she After two hours of chatter, Warren's son put down the phone with tears in his eyes.Warren comforted him and said, "Now you know what I feel every day!" When Leila left West Point for a while, misfortunes followed in her family.One of her older sisters committed suicide, and the other sister and Lila's mother were used to it.No matter how much madness and emotional imbalance the Starr women endured, Lila survived. But the Warrens were forced to face the shrapnel that exploded in her rage.Apparently, it was never discussed in the Buffett family.One morning, when Warren was very young, Howard came downstairs and warned him, "Mommy's mad again." More often than not, after Howard was out, Warren's sister would hear her gossip, So the two reminded each other.There was no quarrel between their parents, it was between Lila and her children, and it was bound to be one that the Warrens had no way of getting the upper hand. Warren coped with the helpless battle without fighting back."He wasn't driven crazy, he kept it all to himself," said sister Roberta, who lives across the street from Jerry.Moore found out that the Warren kid never got into an argument with anyone.He shyly shy away from the usual quarrels of the neighborhood—from conflict of any kind. He never mentioned his mother's temper to his friends, nor did his natural slowness allow it to surface occasionally.But some of the boys noticed that Warren spent more time playing with them at their house than he did at his own.Mrs. Russell always said: "I lured him out with a kitten, and called him in with milk." His classmate Byron.斯旺森回到家里，会发现沃伦正坐在他家厨房里，天真而可爱地喝着百事可乐，嚼着土豆片——在那段平稳的时期，美国人都不锁屋门。沃尔特。卢米斯说他妈妈在他父亲到家后 不得不把沃伦送出门去，好让一家人吃饭。（在回忆时，他冷冷地加上一句：“把他赶走，挺不好意思的。”） 后来，沃伦的儿子彼得曾考虑过，父亲的成功是否一定程度上归功于他想离开这个家的欲望驱使。答案不为人知，但他的确有某种欲望。沃伦曾坐在玫瑰山小学的太平梯上，平静地对他的好友们说他将在35岁以前发财。他从来没表现出自吹自擂，头脑发胀的迹象， （用拉塞尔朴素的语言来形容就是“他的帽子始终大小合适”。）他自己也对此深信不疑。 他常在自己喜欢的书《赚到1000美元的1000招》中自得其乐，这本书用“以自制的软糖起家”以及“麦克。杜格尔夫人变38美元为百万财富”等故事来游说未来的洛克菲勒式的人物。沃伦无比生动地把自己想象成为虚幻中的人物——想象自己站在一座金山旁边，显得多么的矮小；而这座金山给他带来的狂喜远远超过一座糖山。他恰恰是书作者所编织的梦幻故事的读者——他牢牢铭记书里的建议“开始，立即行动”，不论选择去做什么，千万不要待待。 沃伦是第五十三大街有名的书虫，被邻居们认为拥有照相术一般的记忆。在年纪相仿的人中，他算个儿高的。尽管他挺热衷于运动，但动作却很笨拙。他引人入胜地对自己的财务业绩侃侃而谈，谈话时带着的喜悦心情，有很强的感染力。每当沃伦一开口说话，朋友们就立即竖起了耳朵。他所做的一切并不是要说服别的孩子加入他的行列，而只是吸引他们的注意力——就像父亲称呼他的那样：一个吸引飞蛾的火球。沃伦和斯图尔特，埃里克森，以及拜伦。斯旺森一起到阿克。萨。本跑马场清扫票根；他还号召半数的邻居来收集高尔夫球。很快，他的卧室里就堆满了容量为一蒲式耳的几筐高尔夫球，它们都按牌子和价格整理得规规矩矩。他的一个邻居比尔。普里查德回忆说：“他发给我们一打高尔夫球，我们把它们卖了，然后他提成。”沃伦和埃里克森甚至还在埃尔姆伍德公园建起一个高尔夫球亭。后来据埃里克森回忆说，他们的生意太红火了，于是“有人告发了我们，那些职业贩子把我们给赶走了”。 一份《星期六晚报》把那时的奥马哈描绘成一个贫穷荒凉的城市——在这篇打趣的文章中，这个城市据说处在文明的西边，而文明终止于德丝梅茵，位于美景的东边，因为美景只从洛基山开始。它唯一与众不同的一点是它的流俗，只在气候方面它有些极端。它对文化领域所作的贡献只有斯旺森晚餐。 披着神秘面纱的奥马哈被描述成文化的废墟，它作为逃避罪恶东方的一块处女地更具有罗曼蒂克的色彩——它俭朴，带着朦胧的乡村情调。这些说法中蕴含有一定的真实成分，但同时也有一定程度的夸张。这也就为后来那种将巴菲特描述成一个神秘人物，而非纽约人所说的智者和有天赋头脑的人的说法找到了根源。他被说成是“奥马哈的传喻人”或是“奥马哈的奇人”（《奥兹的奇人》倒是的确来自于奥马哈）。 但是，沃伦眼里的奥马哈绝不是一片贫瘠之地，巴菲特家族以及邻居们都是有教养的人。弗雷德。阿斯塔尔在法纳姆大街的钱伯斯学院学习舞蹈；当地一个叫亨利。方达的男孩，也在奥马哈的舞台上崭露头角。奥马哈确实规模不大——只有22万人口——但绝不是一个小城镇。铲煤工人卡尔。桑德伯格对他的评价为“奥马哈，这个粗壮的家伙供养了军队，满脸肮脏，大口地吃，流着臭汗”。 沃伦满11岁的那个夏天，霍华德想让孩子们体验一下真正的农场生活， 于是登了一则广告寻找一家农户。一连几周，沃伦和多丽丝都寄宿在一个叫埃尔默。贝恩的农场主那儿。沃伦特别喜欢吃贝恩夫人烹制的馅饼，但对牛或是玉米杆没有任何兴趣。地窖这种东西对他而言是一种非常模糊的概念，这种感觉就像一个农村小孩面对奥马哈现代化的装饰艺术，摩天大楼一样。 沃伦的确是个城里孩子。 他熟识第五十三大街上的每一户人家。房屋的构造都有相似之处，两堵屋墙，褐色的砖坯，还有中间的门廊……。他辨认得出从罗伯特家奶品场开出来的卡车、电车和近处货车发出的叮节奏；还有城里烧烤厂飘来的香味；甚至还有温暖的夏夜里一阵风儿从南方吹过时，肉制品厂传出的浓烈的令人作呕的臭气。不论是徒步，还是骑着他的三速车，或是搭车，他都会在街上逛，一会儿去高尔夫球场，一会儿来到父亲的办公室，一会儿又来到祖父的商店中。尽管沃伦和母亲之间存有间隙，教堂也令他痛苦，沃伦心目中的这座城市依然是重要的，永恒不变的。 然而，1941年12月，一场令所有美国人都陷入恐慌的野蛮事件，同样威胁到了住在奥马哈的沃伦的生活。珍珠港事件的那个周日，巴菲特一家正在西点的外祖父斯塔尔家串门。在开车回家的路上，他们听到了军队的乐声。 接下来的几个月里，美国人对战争逐渐习以为常了，沃伦的生活也恢复到了原来的状态。 1942年，内布拉斯加第二选区的共和党人找不出一个候选人来参加战时总统的竞选活动，在走投无路的情况下，共和党不得不把目光转向了一位公开反对新政的人士：霍华德。巴菲特。 身为孤立主义者的霍华德获胜的可能性可谓微乎其微。在游历各地的政治演说中，他抨击的对象并非希特勒或是墨索里尼，而是把矛头对准了富兰克林。罗斯福。 我完全知道那些对共和党候选人不利的因素。他对世界所公认的最强大的坦慕尼协会的政治机器发起了抗争。这个无情的集团，披着战争的外衣，正在策划阴谋，想要勒紧绕在美国脖颈上的政治苦役的锁链。 霍华德痛斥了通货膨胀和臃肿的政府机构，他领先时代达40年之久。在奥马哈，他受到广泛的爱戴，虽然他没有钱——他的花费仅有2361美元——但他顽强地抗争着。 在选举当日，霍华德准备好了一份妥协演讲，并在9点钟时就退场了。 第二天，他发现自己获胜了，他称此为他一生之中“最大的惊喜”。 而沃伦则震惊地意识到自己命运发生了变化：12年来头一次，他不得不离开奥马哈。在刚选举完之后拍的全家福照片上，沃伦脸上流露出焦虑的神情，英俊的脸庞陷入一片迷茫之中，紧闭的双唇费劲地挤出些许笑意。 由于战争时期华盛顿的地皮很紧张，霍华德在偏僻但很迷人的弗里德里克斯堡的弗吉尼亚镇上租了套房子。房子盘踞在山上，俯瞰着拉帕汉诺克河，这是一个有前廊和一片玫瑰的野草蔓生的白色殖民地建筑。罗贝塔觉得它看上去“像是电影里的场景”，沃伦却对此地深怀厌恶之情。 虽然弗里德里克斯堡像影片的风景，但它位于南方，显得既荒凉，又陌生。沃伦不喜欢任何方式的改变，而这次则把他的世界彻底颠倒了一次。他不仅被猛地从朋友和邻居身边拽走了，每周还时不时把他和父亲隔开了。father 亲住在了往北50里地的华盛顿道奇旅馆里。这位国会的新成员曾对家人宣布他只任职一届，但这种承诺并没有让他的儿子得到安慰。离开奥马哈，离开了所有他所熟悉的东西，沃伦陷入了悲惨的“思乡情结”之中。 虽然他对自己的离去深感绝望，但在本性中，他不想违抗自己的亲人。 他只告诉家人说他受到某种神秘的“过敏症”的折磨，整夜无法入睡。当然，他这种禅宗似的坚忍完全是为了不让家人感到不安而竭力做出来的，他回忆道：“我对父母亲说自己喘不过气来。我让他们不要担心，自己放心去睡觉，①而我却彻夜难眠。”他们终归还是很担心他的，在这时候，沃伦给祖父欧内斯特写信诉说了他抑郁的心情。祖父很快回信建议沃伦搬来和姑妈艾丽斯同住，然后在奥马哈念完8年级。在弗里德里克斯堡度过了几周的生活以后，他的父母终于同意了。 沃伦乘火车回去的途中，与内布拉斯加的一位参议员休。巴特勒共住一间卧铺单间。拂晓的时候，巴特勒议员发现这个年轻人一晚上都睡得特别香，于是说道：“我还以为你睡不着呢。”沃伦欢快地回答道：“哦！我早把这毛病留在宾州了。” 回到奥马哈之后，沃伦又变得精神抖擞起来。艾丽斯姑妈是一位思想自由的家庭经济学教师，是一位和颜悦色的园丁。她对沃伦很感兴趣，和其他老师一样，她被沃伦的聪慧和好奇心所深深吸引住了。 欧内斯特祖父是一个个性很有特点的老师，也被沃伦吸引住了。欧内斯特正在撰写一本书，每天晚上都给沃伦讲上几页。它的题目很复杂——“如何经营杂货店以及我从钓鱼中学到的知识”。它的要旨可以从欧内斯特的一封信中明显地表现出来。他在信中颇有信心地宣布：“超级市场已经过时了。” 克洛格、蒙哥马利和华德，以及赛夫威，我想它们都已达到了顶峰。这些连锁店从现在开始将经历一段艰难的时期。 幸运的是《如何经营杂货店》这本书没有出版问世。 但是，沃伦参加到了巴菲特父子公司的工作中来。在这儿，他直接感受到了祖父恪守的原则。欧内斯特每天从沃伦微薄的工资里扣出两分钱——这项举动，再配合有关职业伦理学的讲话，目的是为了让沃伦对政府项目，类似社会安全项目等等所导致的无法承受的耗费留下深刻的印象。对于一个只有12岁的男孩，工作本身非常辛苦，搬举板条箱，拉苏打水瓶……沃伦不喜欢这些工作，甚至不喜欢杂货店的气味，水果腐烂的时候，他只有硬着头皮去清扫垃圾箱。 但是他喜欢商店。巴菲特父子商店是一个能放百货的舒适的小窝。这儿有吱吱作响的木质地板，旋转的电扇，还有成排的木货架高得直顶天花板。 当有人想要货架上层的罐头时，沃伦或另一个店员就会把一张滑动梯子搬到合适的位置，然后将它升到最高点。 这是沃伦所见到的最成功的生意。他的叔叔弗雷德站在柜台后面与每位顾客愉快地交谈。那些香喷喷新出炉的面包，制好的干酪，还没包起来的小甜饼和干果……巴菲特父子店确有特色吸引顾客们频频光顾——也许是恪守祖父节约每一分钱的美德罢。 ① 当多年后问及沃伦是否真的彻夜未眠，多丽丝说：“天哪，不，他睡得欢呢。” 查理。芒格每周六也在这里工作，直到许多年以后他和沃伦才有缘一见，结果后来两人成了商业伙伴。芒格在店里感受到一种文化的灌输。诺曼。罗克韦尔说：“没有谁在店里闲荡。从早上第一个钟点开始一直到晚上，你都处于无比的繁忙之中。”有一次，沃伦的侄子比尔。巴菲特迟到几分钟赶到店里，碰到了他那身材魁梧、满头白发的祖父。他手里拿着一块表站在二楼上怒吼道：“比利，都几点钟了！” 住在欧内斯特家里那段日子中，沃伦常常到父亲的商业伙伴卡尔。福尔克家里吃午饭。在福尔克太太准备午饭时，他就从福尔克研究的那些投资的书里面抽出一本来看。有一次，沃伦一边咕嘟咕嘟喝着玛丽。福尔克做的鸡面汤，一面宣布他将在30岁以前成为一个百万富翁——还令人不可思议地加上一句：“如果实现不了这个目标，我就从奥马哈最高的建筑物上跳下去。” 玛丽。福尔克被他的话吓坏了，连忙叫他不要再说出类似的话来。沃伦盯着她笑了起来。她确实很喜欢这个孩子所具有的魅力，因此总是热情欢迎他到福尔克家里来作客。是玛丽。福尔克第一个向沃伦提出了这样一个问题：“沃伦，你为什么想赚那么多钱？” “这倒不是我想要很多钱，”沃伦答道，“我觉得赚钱来看着它慢慢增多是一件很有意思的事。” 八年级的最后几个月，沃伦暂时得以解脱，又和老朋友们聚集在一起在城里四处乱跑。从位于西郊的巴菲特商店跑到市中心的鹅卵石街道，这里有喧哗繁忙的自由市场以及红砖和铸铁的仓房。这里也正是一个半世纪之前奥马哈的巴菲特家族的第一代：悉尼。巴菲特盖起商店的地方。转眼四代人过去了，沃伦也把它当作了自己的家园。他承袭了镇上那种不拘礼节的风格，大草原上人们朴直的说话方式以及难以看透的，不轻易流露出情感的外表。 他天真、质朴而且平平凡凡，但在特性之中——他天生的自立，充满雄心却谨慎的资本家的热情以及复杂、平静的外表——都说明他是一个不折不扣的中西部佬。到1943年秋季时，沃伦再也找不出任何借口逃避去华盛顿服兵役，于是这段离开华盛顿的暂缓期也随之宣告结束了。