sad one to me, for I knew that I should lose my happy home, and be
obliged to leave it to seek work for my support. There being no
manufacturing of any account in the country, the poor boys were obliged
to let themselves to the farmers, and it was extremely difficult to find
a place to live where they would treat a poor boy like a human being.
Never shall I forget the Monday morning that I took my little bundle of
clothes, and with a bursting heart bid my poor mother good bye.

I knew that the rest of the family had got to leave soon, and I perhaps
never to see any of them again. Being but a boy and naturally very
sympathizing, it really seemed as if my heart would break to think of
leaving my dear old home for good, but stern necessity compelled me, and
I was forced to obey.

The first year after leaving home I was at work on a farm, and almost
every day when alone in the fields would burst into tears--not because I
had to work, but because my father was dead whom I loved, and our happy
family separated and broken up never to live together again. In my new
place I was kept at work very hard, and at the age of fourteen did
almost the work of a man. It was a very lonely place where we lived, and
nothing to interest a child of my age. The people I lived with seemed to
me as very old, though they were probably not more than thirty-six years
of age, and felt no particular interest in me, more than to keep me
constantly at work, early and late, in all kinds of weather, of which I
never complained. I have many times worked all day in the woods,
chopping down trees, with my shoes filled with snow; never had a pair of
boots till I was more than twenty years old. Once in two weeks I was
allowed to go to church, which opportunity I always improved.

I liked to attend church, for I could see so many folks, and the habit