showing. I called the engineer and told him it must have been shaken
out within the last few miles. Would he reverse his engine and run
back for it? Kind soul, he did so. I watched the line, and on the very
banks of a large stream, within a few feet of the water, I saw that
package lying. I could scarcely believe my eyes. I ran down and
grasped it. It was all right. Need I add that it never passed out of
my firm grasp again until it was safe in Pittsburgh? The engineer and
fireman were the only persons who knew of my carelessness, and I had
their assurance that it would not be told.

It was long after the event that I ventured to tell the story. Suppose
that package had fallen just a few feet farther away and been swept
down by the stream, how many years of faithful service would it have
required upon my part to wipe out the effect of that one piece of
carelessness! I could no longer have enjoyed the confidence of those
whose confidence was essential to success had fortune not favored me.
I have never since believed in being too hard on a young man, even if
he does commit a dreadful mistake or two; and I have always tried in
judging such to remember the difference it would have made in my own
career but for an accident which restored to me that lost package at
the edge of the stream a few miles from Hollidaysburg. I could go
straight to the very spot to-day, and often as I passed over that line
afterwards I never failed to see that light-brown package lying upon
the bank. It seemed to be calling:

"All right, my boy! the good gods were with you, but don't do it
again!"

At an early age I became a strong anti-slavery partisan and hailed
with enthusiasm the first national meeting of the Republican Party in