power.

I had one adventure during these early boyhood days which nearly
cost me my life, and which Uncle John (as I called Mr. Sherman)
converted into a religious warning. One Sunday there was a freshet
in Owl Creek, on the south side of the town, and many people went
to see it, I among the rest. I was reckless, and, against the
advice of others, went out on a temporary foot-bridge which fell
and I dropped into the raging waters. How I escaped I hardly know,
but it was by the assistance of others. Uncle John said that I
was punished by the Almighty for violating the Sabbath. Ever after
that I was careful about Sunday sport.

I remember, while living at Uncle John's, witnessing the wedding
of his niece, Miss Leavenworth, to Columbus Delano. I sat upon
the stair steps during the ceremony, the first of the kind I ever
saw. I mention this because of my long acquaintance with Mr. Delano
and his family. He became a great lawyer and filled many offices
of high public trust, and is now (1895) living in vigorous health,
eighty-six years old. I also remember very well Henry B. Curtis
and his family. He married a sister of Mrs. Sherman of Mt. Vernon,
and had a number of children. He was a brother of Colonel Samuel
R. Curtis, distinguished in the Civil War, was an accomplished
lawyer, a careful business man, and a gentleman in every sense of
the word.

On the whole I regard my four years at Mount Vernon as well spent.
I advanced in my studies so that I could translate Latin fairly
well, I went through the primary studies, and obtained some
comprehension of algebra, geometry and kindred studies. In the
meantime the condition of our family had greatly changed and
generally improved. My sister Amelia was happily married to Robert
McComb, a merchant of Mansfield. My father's only sister was
married to Judge Parker, of Mansfield, to which place my grandmother
had followed her daughter, and my brother Charles had entered upon
his career as a lawyer in the same town.

Uncle John had a family of small children growing up and I felt I
was in the way. My mother was anxious for me to return home as
all her boys were away. I wanted to go. Uncle John, however,
expressed his desire for me to stay and enter Kenyon College, but
I knew that Mrs. Sherman preferred that I should leave as she had
her young children to care for. The result was my return to
Lancaster at the age of twelve. Mrs. Sherman is now living at
Washing