old army musket which had neither lock nor stock. The boys had the
gun barrel lying horizontally across the top of a barrel, and in
their play they would place percussion caps upon the nipple of the
gun and strike them with a piece of iron to hear the explosion. It
was my boy's time to strike the cap and just as he struck the other
boy was passing in front of the muzzle of the gun, and the gun fired,
tearing the poor boy in front almost in two parts, killing him
instantly. It was very said indeed!

The foregoing was an accident. The following was in incident. One
cold, snowy, stormy, wintry morning while we were at breakfast at my
boarding house in Washington, at once we heard a wonderful crashing
noise of many things fall upon the porch floor and then rush through
an open door of a little room that stood at the end of the porch. My
host ran out and closed the door and what do you think was caught?
Not less than nine quails. We had pot-pie for dinner. The remnants
of that pot-pie left over, served for dinner more or less for nearly
a week until I became very tired of pot-pie. And so changed my
boarding place and boarded with an old, well-to-do retired Hoosier
farmer and his wife. The wife was a most excellent cook. Elder
Howe, who had traveled over nearly all the states as an evangelist,
says no people excel the Hoosiers for their hospitality and god
things to eat.

It was about this period of my life that I attended school at the
Northwestern Christian University at Indianapolis, Indiana, and later
at Hiram, Ohio, 1865-1866. My teachers in Indianapolis were
President Benton and Prof. Nushour, and Dr. Brown. At Hiram, Errett,
Burnett, Milligan, Anderson and Atwater. It was here I saw and heard
General Garfield deliver an address. He was a great and good man.
The most scholarly, pure minded and devout man I ever saw were
Milligan and Anderson.

Prior to my attendance to the schools mentioned above I had seen but
few of our great teachers and preachers. I had supposed the
differences between what they knew and what the ordinary teacher and
what the ordinary preacher knew was almost infinite in their favor
and that their ability to tell it was very superior but, on becoming
acquainted with them, I found they knew nothing more about the unseen
world, heaven or hell, or sin and its forgiveness, or death and
salvation, than the simple scholar and devout student of the Bible.
Now do not think, Boys, for a