the corn-crib. My sisters wanted to jump off the shed, but were a little
afraid to do so for fear they would hurt themselves. They finally decided
that they would have me jump first, and if it did not hurt me, then they
would jump. Little as I was, I understood their scheme. Nevertheless, I
jumped. It hurt me quite a little; but when they asked me if I was hurt, I
said, "No." Thinking then, that it would not hurt them, they jumped but
they were considerably hurt too. Again they asked if it hurt me, and I
admitted that it had. "Why did you not tell us?" "Because," I replied, "you
were playing off on me because I am the youngest, and I would not let you
know, so that you would have a chance to get hurt too."

One morning when I was about six years old, I was going to school in
company with my brothers and sisters and other children who went the same
road. It was late in the fall, and a heavy rain that had recently fallen,
made the narrow lane through which we were obliged to pass, very muddy.
Cattle had made deep tracks in the mud, in which the water had collected
and then frozen. The bubbles underneath the ice had the appearance of
money, and we children ran along looking at the bubbles, and saying "I have
found some money." All at once I was sure that I did see a real coin under
the ice at the bottom of one of the holes. When I called out "I have found
some money," my brothers came quickly to investigate; and, sure enough,
there was a fifty-cent piece stuck to the rim of an old pocket book. It had
lain there so long that the leather had all rotted away. I was so delighted
and spent so much time in enjoying the treasure I had found that I learned
but very little that day.

One of my earliest recollections is of committing these lines to memory:

"In His pure eyes it is a sin To steal a penny or a pin."