The parson joined my father in his endeavors to shake the resolution
I had taken, and said many things concerning the snares set by the
wicked world, and how easy it was for an ardent youth like myself to
fall into them, that grievously annoyed my mother; for, as I have
said before, she had great faith in my virtue, and so doted on me
that she had a ready excuse for all my follies. Indeed, she would
often smile at the combined alarm of my father and the parson,
saying she held it infinitely better that a youth like myself go out
upon the world in search of distinction, for therein lay the
virtue of his example. Children were born to the world; if they had
daring enough to go out upon it and battle with it, the parson's
advice to stay at home was unnecessary. You could not make human
things divine; and, to expect miracles from saints now-a-days, or
truth from critics, or liberality from parsons, was like looking for
reason in our "current literature."

When my father found that I was, in spite of the admonitions of the
parson, resolved on setting out, and that he was confronted by the
strong opposition of my mother, he gave up in despair, telling me
whatever befell me, not to look to him for succor. My mother, on the
other hand, gave herself up to my preparation for the journey with
so much ardor, that she for several days almost wholly neglected the
regulation of her domestic affairs. My precious new suit of black,
in which I had adorned myself on Sundays, and, not a little vain of
my appearance, shone out at church, was got out and brushed, and
then nicely packed away in my valise, which likewise contained an
ample supply of unmentionables, and homemade shirts, and stockings,
and other articles appertaining to the wardrobe of an adventurous
young man. My mother also exercised a wise discretion in the