a few of them
were skilled in astrology, and by its aid could tell under what planet a
person was born, and perchance, could predict thereby the future events
of his life; at least after those events had actually taken place.

Under what particular planet I was born, my friends never told me;
though it is quite possible some of my sage grandmothers or aunts could
have furnished the needful information had I sought it. They used to
look often at the lines in the palms of my hands, and talk much about my
dreams, which were certainly a little aspiring, and in many respects
remarkable. The frequent prediction of one of these aged and wise
friends I remember very well. It was, that I would eat my bread in two
kingdoms. This prediction was grounded on the fact, that the hair on the
top of my head was so arranged by the plastic hand of Nature as to form
what were called two crowns; and was so far fulfilled, that I have
occasionally eaten bread within the realms of Queen Victoria!

According to the family register, kept in the cranium of my mother, I
was born on Monday, which doubtless served to justify the frequent
repetition of the old adage, and its application to my own case--"Born
on Monday, fair of face." I was also born on the sixth day of the month,
on account of which it was said that the sixth verse of the thirty-first
chapter of Proverbs was, prospectively, a key to my character. It is
certainly true that I have dealt out not a little "strong drink to him
that" was "ready to perish;" and that few of my professional brethren
have furnished a larger proportion of it gratuitously; or as Solomom
says, have _given_ it.

Whether there was any clear or distinct prophecy ever uttered that I
would one day be a knight of the lancet, clad in full armor, is not
certain. If there was, I presume it was unwritten. That I was to be
distinguished in some way, everybody appeared to understand and
acknowledge. I was not only at the head of all my classes at school, in
spelling, reading, and writing, but exalted above most of my competitors
and compeers by a whole head and shoulders. In ciphering, in
particular, I excelled. I understood the grand rules of arithmetic, and
could even work a little in the Rule of Three.

That the thought of being a "doctor" did, in a sort of indefinable way,
sometimes enter my head, even at that early period, I will not deny. One
of my teachers, as I well remember, had medical books, into which bars
an