Brookline he had a child to be christened, and he
preferred to have the city minister perform the ceremony. After the
service we were invited to dine at Dr. Spooner's, and that minister ate
so unmercifully of everything upon the table, that I then and there
resolved that I would eat but one kind of meat at a meal, and I think
my good health is due in a measure to that resolution." I made no
resolution, but the circumstance produced an impression upon me, and in
the main I have observed his rule. In seventy-seven years, within my
recollection, I have lain in bed but seven days.

In April, 1820, when I was hardly more than two years of age, my father
moved to Lunenburg, Worcester County, and settled upon a farm, a mile
south-west of the village, which he had bought of Phinehas Carter, then
an old man, who had been opulent as a farmer for the time and place,
but whose estates had been wasted by a moderate sort of intemperance,
by idleness, and family expenses. The house was large, well built for
the times, finished with clear, unpainted white pine, with dado work in
the front rooms below and in the chambers above. It was situated on
the southern brow of a hill, and commanded a view of the Wachusett
mountain, and the hills to the west, south and east over an expanse of
twenty miles in every direction, except the northern half of the
circle. At a distance of eighty or one hundred rods from the house lay
the Whalom pond, a body of clear, deep spring water, of more than a
hundred acres. The farm contained one hundred and thirteen acres of
land, somewhat rocky, but in quality better than the average New
England farms. At the time of the purchase one-half of the acres were
woodland with heavy timber.

My father relied upon that timber to meet the debt of one thousand
dollars which rested upon the place. In those days wood and timber
were abundant and money was scarce. If the building of railroads could
have been foreseen and the timber saved for twenty-five years it would
have risen to twice the value of the farm at the time of the purchase.
My father's anxiety to be relieved of the debt was so great that he
made sales of wood and timber as he had the opportunity, but the
proceeds, after much hard labor had been added, were very
insignificant. As a result, the most valuable part of the timber was
sold for ship-building, or to the coopers, or converted into boards
and shingles, and a remnant of the debt remained for