uncle's
wealth, Jackson was no exception. He had to fight his own battle, to
rub shoulders with all sorts and conditions of men, and to hold his
own as best he could.

It was a hard school, then, in which he grew to manhood. But for that
very reason it was a good school for the future soldier. For a man
who has to push his own way in the world, more especially if he has
to carve it with his sword, a boyhood passed amidst surroundings
which boast of no luxury and demand much endurance, is the best
probation. Von Moltke has recorded that the comfortless routine of
the Military Academy at Copenhagen inured him to privation, and
Jackson learned the great lesson of self-reliance in the rough life
of his uncle's homestead.

The story of his early years is soon told. As a blue-eyed child, with
long fair hair, he was curiously thoughtful and exceedingly
affectionate. His temper was generous and cheerful. His truthfulness
was proverbial, and his little sister found in him the kindest of
playmates and the sturdiest of protectors. He was distinguished, too,
for his politeness, although good manners were by no means rare in
the rustic West. The manly courtesy of the true American is no exotic
product; nor is the universal deference to woman peculiar to any
single class. The farmer of the backwoods might be ignorant of the
conventionalities, but the simplicity and unselfishness which are the
root of all good breeding could be learned in West Virginia as
readily as in Richmond.

Once, tempted by his brother, the boy left his adopted home, and the
two children, for the elder was no more than twelve, wandered down
the Ohio to the Mississippi, and spent the summer on a lonely and
malarious island, cutting wood for passing steamers. No one opposed
their going, and it seems to have been considered quite natural in
that independent community that the veriest urchins should be allowed
to seek their fortunes for themselves. Returning, ragged and
fever-stricken, the little adventurers submitted once more to the
routine of the farm and to the intermittent studies of a country
school. After his failure as a man of business, our small hero showed
no further inclination to seek his fortunes far afield. He was fond
of his home. His uncle, attracted by his steadiness and good sense,
treated him more as a companion than a child; and in everything
connected with the farm, as well as in the sports of the country
side, the boy took the keenest in