When I was about eleven years of age it seemed that a voice was continually
speaking to me and saying, "You ought to be a better boy; I want you for a
preacher." I did not understand at the time that it was the Holy Ghost
speaking to me. Mother often wept over me and said, "Child, O child, what
shall I do with you! You make me more trouble than all the other eight
children put together."

At the age of fifteen I was confirmed and at the following preaching
service I was supposed to participate in taking the Lord's supper (as was
the custom of the church). Before that service I went out into the woods to
pray. I asked the Lord to forgive me for partaking of the Lord's supper,
for to refrain from taking it would bring disgrace upon my family.

From that time on, the Lord continued to talk to me, saying, "You ought to
be a better young man." It seemed as though I could not be better at home
in Norway so I determined to sail for America.

I had been in America about a year and a half when I met a distant relative
who was thought to be lost in this country, because his family had not
heard from him for two or three years. He invited me to go into a saloon
with him and have a glass of beer. We went in, and also played several
games of pool.

In the meantime I took off my coat and hung it on the back of a chair. In
the inside pocket of my coat I had my billfold containing about one hundred
dollars, all the money I had, and also my valuable papers. When I went to
reach for my money my billfold was gone. The saloon keeper seemed to know
what had taken place and handed me five dollars. I had no work as there was
none to be found. It was the custom in those days for the saloons to give a
free lunch with a glass of beer. I went at noon every day and bought a