Could never by tongue or pen be taught;
For it ran thro' a life, like a thread of gold,
And the life bore fruit, an hundred fold.
Only a word, but it was spoken in love,
With a whispered prayer to the Lord above;
And the angels in heaven rejoiced once more
For a new-born soul entered in, at the door."


I resolved to be like little Ezra as near as I could. When I was a
child I fought against my selfish nature. I would often give away my
doll clothes and other things that I wanted to keep myself. Some of the
strongest characteristics of my life were awakened in my childhood. I
would often blush with shame, when committing sins, and I had a great
fear of the judgement day; it would terrify me when hearing of Jesus
coming to the earth. I would often ask myself: "Where can I hide?"
If the public knew of the smashing God gave me the strength to do in my
heart, they would not wonder at my courage in smashing the murder-
shops of our land. "He that ruleth his own spirit, is greater than he that
taketh a city."

In 1855, we moved to Missouri, just a year before the trouble broke
out between Kansas and Missouri. Missouri determined to make Kansas
a slave state; but Kansas said she would not have a slave upon her soil.
Squads of men in Missouri would often go into Kansas and commit depredations.
At one time they burned Lawrence, Kansas, and killed many
people. This trouble continued to grow worse until it brought on the great
Civil War.

When we moved from Kentucky to Missouri, I took a severe cold on