overcome with grief; she said to father, "this wound is enough to kill
the child, and that merciless man will not let him lie down until he
gets well: this is too hard." Father said to her, "I know it is very
hard, but what can we do? for if we try to keep this boy in the house it
will cause us trouble." Mother said, "I wish they would take him out of
the world, then he would be out of pain, and we should not have to fret
about him, for he would be in heaven." Then she took hold of me and
said, "Does it hurt you, son?" meaning my face, and I said, "Yes,
mamma," and she shed tears; but she had no little toys to give me to
comfort me; she could only promise me such as she had, which were eggs
and chickens.

Father did not show his grief for me as mother did, but he tried to
comfort mother all he could, and at times would say to me, "Never mind,
my son, you will be a man bye and bye," but he did not know what was
passing through my mind at that time. Though I was very small I thought
that if, while a boy, my treatment was so severe, it would be much worse
when I became a man, and having had a chance to see how men were being
punished, it was a very poor consolation to me.

Finally the time came for us to go to bed, and we all knelt in family
prayer. Father thanked God for having saved me from a worse injury, and
then he prayed for mother's comfort, and also for the time which he
predicted would come, that is, the time of freedom, when I and the rest
of the children would be our own masters and mistresses; then he
commended us to God, and we all went to bed. The next morning I went to
my work with a great deal of pain. They did not send me up the road with
the horses in that condition, but I had to ride the old horses to water,
and work around the stable until I was well enough to go with the other
boys. But I am happy to say that from the time I got hurt by that horse