Vasa in the evening, and, having consulted my wife, who
was visiting her parents, I soon made up my mind. The next day both of
us were on the way to Red Wing supplied with clothes, bedding, a few
dishes and some provisions, which had been given us by my wife's
parents, who also conveyed us to town. In Red Wing we rented a room
about sixteen feet square, got a cook stove and a few articles of
furniture on credit, and everything was in order for housekeeping and
the study of law. I immediately commenced my course of study with that
excellent lawyer, Mr. Warren Bristol, who afterwards for many years
served as United States Judge in New Mexico, where he recently died.

This life was something new for my young wife, who had grown up in a
house of plenty. Now she had to try her hand at managing our household
affairs, with the greatest economy, and she accomplished her task so
well that no minister of finance could have done better. In fact we were
so poor that winter that we could not afford to buy the tallow candles
which were necessary for my night studies (kerosene was unknown at that
time). But every evening during this trying but happy winter my wife
made a lamp by pouring melted lard, which her parents sent us, into a
saucer, and putting in a cotton wick, and in my eyes this light was more
brilliant than the rays from the golden chandeliers in the palaces of
the rich. By this light I studied Blackstone, Kent, and other works on
law.

Late in the spring of 1858 a place became vacant in the justice of the
peace, and I succeeded in getting the appointment to this position,
which brought me a couple of dollars now and then, thus improving our
financial condition considerably. Early in the summer I was appointed
city clerk, with a salary of $12.50 a month, which was quite a fortune
for us at that time. After one year's hard study I was admitted to the
bar, and my honored teacher accepted me as his partner on good
conditions. My profession seemed to be well chosen; I had plenty to do,
and met with all the success I could expect.

My first case in the district court was before Judge McMillan, who
afterwards became chief justice of our supreme court, and then United
States senator. In opening the case I became nervous and excited and
would have broken down entirely had it not been for the kindly manner in
which the judge overlooked my diffidence, and helped me out of the
embarrassment by leading me on and putting the very wor