for the wood was heavy, thick, and hard as bone. I eventually had
the pleasure of sending to my father the subscription price of his
paper for a year. If a boy reads these lines, let me assure him
that he will never know a sweeter moment in his life than when he
receives the thanks of his parents for some such effort in their
behalf. No investment can ever pay him better.

In one of my books, "Nature's Serial Story," my father and mother
appear, slightly idealized.

Toward the close of my first year in Williams College a misfortune
occurred which threatened to be very serious. Studying by
defective light injured my eyes. They quickly became so sensitive
that I could scarcely endure lamplight or the heat of a stove,
only the cold out-door air relieving the pain; so I spent much
time in wandering about in the boisterous weather of early spring
in Williamstown. At last I became so discouraged that I went to
President Hopkins and told him that I feared I must give up the
purpose of acquiring an education. Never can I forget how that
grand old man met the disheartened boy. Speaking in the wise,
friendly way which subdued the heart and strengthened the will, he
made the half-hour spent with him the turning-point of my life. In
conclusion, he advised me to enter the Senior class the following
fall, thus taking a partial course of study. How many men are
living to-day who owe much of the best in their lives to that
divinely inspired guide and teacher of youth!

I next went to another man great in his sphere of life--Dr. Agnew,
the oculist. He gave my eyes a thorough examination, told me that
he could do nothing for them; that rest and the vigor acquired