ember most
vividly that two-roomed log cabin where my parents' ten children were
born--

"Low and little, and black and old,
With children as many as it could hold."

However, my father soon began working for wages, and received $10 per
month and the proverbial "rations"--three pounds of meat and a peck of
meal per week. What a financier he must have been, for from that mean
sum he managed to save $50 or $75 each year, and I still cherish the
memory of how fondly I felt those crisp green-backs once a year. He
brought them home every Christmas and allowed each member of the family
to feel them--yes, even caress them.

When I was about nine years of age I entered the public school of the
community, which was in session about four months in a year, opening
late in the fall and going through the winter. My parents were so
delighted and gratified at the progress I made that I was occasionally
privileged to spend one month in the subscription school conducted near
by during the summer.

When I was fourteen years of age a great sorrow visited our home. My
mother died. I often wonder if any one can realize what it means to lose
a mother without having suffered that bereavement. My father did not
marry again.

About this time the authorities opened a school nearer us than the one I
had been attending, but the teachers were usually very incompetent and
my progress was seriously hindered.

The absorbing desire of my life had been to some day graduate from some
institution of learning, but I found myself at eighteen years of age far
from the goal of my ambition. I became alarmed. I realized what it would
mean to grow to manhood in ignorance; I also knew that there were seven
children younger than I to be cared for. I seriously thought the matter
over. I finally broached it to my father, and he consented that I should
try to make a way for myself.

I rented a small farm, trusting that by cultivating it I would be able
to clear enough money to begin my education. I began wrong, for I had in
advance mortgaged my crop. I began with $75, but when the year closed I
had only $10. However, my aspirations were not to be daunted; I was
resolved on going to school.

With this $10 I purchased the necessary books, paid my entrance fee, and
entered the village graded school. I was poorly clad, and much of the
time was without food, but I felt that I could not even ask my father
for assistance because of his responsibility