ty, and was
then elected one of the first members of the legislature. Jackson county
was so named in honor of his old general, Andrew Jackson, with whom he
served at the battle of New Orleans.

My father and mother were married at Independence, the county seat of
Jackson county, and there they spent many happy years, and there my own
happy childhood days were spent. There were fourteen children of us; I
was the seventh. There were seven younger than myself. How often in the
dark days of the journey over the sea of life have I called up the happy
surroundings of my early days when I had a noble father and dear mother to
appeal to in faith for counsel. There had never been a death in the
family up to 1860, except among our plantation negroes. Mine was a happy
childhood.

I do not desire to pose as an instructor for other people, yet one man's
experience may be of value to another, and it may not be presumptuous for
me to tell some of the results of experience, a teacher whose lessons are
severe, but, at least, worthy of consideration. I might say, perhaps,
with Shakespeare, "I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of
people."

The subject of my discourse tonight is the index of what is to follow.

I believe that no living man can speak upon his theme with more
familiarity. I have lived the gentleman, the soldier, the out-law, and
the convict, living the best twenty-five years of my life in a felon's
cell. I have no desire to pose as a martyr, for men who sin must suffer,
but I will punctuate my remarks with bold statements, for the eagle should
not be afraid of the storm. It is said that there are but three ways by
which we arrive at knowledge in this world; by instruction, by
observation, and by experience. We must learn our lessons in life by some
one or all of these methods. Those of us who do not, or will not, learn
by instruction or by observation are necessarily limited to the fruits of
experience. The boy who is told by his mother that fire burns and who has
seen his brother badly burned, surely does not need to have the fact still
more clearly impressed upon his mind by experience. Yet in the majority
of cases, it takes experience to satisfy him. By a kind of necessity
which I cannot at this point stop to explain, I have had to learn some
very impressive lessons of my life by the stern teacher, experience. Some
people express a desire to live life over again, under the impression that
they