ather,
and threatened to send me home. This made me very indignant, as I
foolishly thought myself a greatly abused and injured person, and, in an
evil hour, I resolved to stand it no longer. I would spite the old
farmer, and punish my father for listening to him, by running away.

"I was now in my eighteenth year,--old enough, as one would have
thought, to have more manliness and self-respect; but about this I had
not reflected much.

"I set out on my ridiculous journey without one pang of regret,--so
hardened was I in heart and conscience,--carrying with me only a change
of clothing, and having in my pocket only one small piece of bread, and
two small pieces of silver. It was rather a bold adventure, but I
thought I should have no difficulty in reaching New Bedford, where I was
fully resolved to take ship and go to sea.

"The journey to New Bedford was a much more difficult undertaking than I
had counted upon, and, I believe, but for the wound which it would have
caused to my pride, I should have gone back at the end of the first five
miles. I held on, however, and reached my destination on the second day,
having stopped overnight at a public house or inn, where my two pieces
of silver disappeared in paying for my supper and lodging and
breakfast.

"I arrived at New Bedford near the middle of the afternoon of the second
day, very hot and dusty, for I had walked all the way through the
broiling sun along the high-road; and I was very tired and hungry, too,
for I had tasted no food since morning, having no more money to buy any
with, and not liking to beg. So I wandered on through the town towards
the place where the masts of ships were to be seen as I looked down the
street,--feeling miserable enough, I can assure you.

"Up to this period of my life, I had never been ten miles from home, and
had never seen a city, so of course everything was new to me. By this
time, however, I had come to reflect seriously on my folly, and this,
coupled with hunger and fatigue, so far banished curiosity from my mind
that I was not in the least impressed by what I saw. In truth, I very
heartily wished myself back on the farm; for if the labor there was not
to my liking, it was at least not so hard as what I had performed these
past two days, in walking along the dusty road,--and then I was, when on
the farm, never without the means to satisfy my hunger.

"What I should have done at this critical stage, had not some one come
to my