mber that walk across the mountain in a
snow-squall through which the sun shone dimly, a black oilcloth satchel
in my hand, and in my heart vague yearnings and forebodings! I had but
a few dollars in my pocket, probably six or seven, most of which I had
earned by selling maple sugar. Father was willing I should go, though my
help was needed on the farm.

Well, I traversed the eight miles to my uncle's in good time, and in the
morning he drove me down to the turnpike to take the stage. I remember
well my anxious and agitated state of mind while waiting at the hotel
for the arrival of the stage. I had never ridden in one, I am not sure
that I had even seen one, and I did not know just what was expected
of me, or just how I should deport myself. An untraveled farm boy at
seventeen is such a vague creature anyway, and I was, in addition, such
a bundle of sensibilities, timidities, and embarrassments as few farm
boys are. I paid my fare at the hotel at the rate of a sixpence a mile
for about thirty-two miles, and when the stage came, saw my name entered
upon the "waybill," and got aboard with a beating heart.

Of that first ride of my life in a public conveyance, I remember little.
The stage was one of those old-fashioned rocking Concord coaches, drawn
by four horses. We soon left the snow-clad hills of Delaware County
behind, and dropped down into the milder climate of Ulster, where no
snow was to be seen. About three in the afternoon the stage put me down
at Terry's Tavern on the "plank-road" in Olive. I inquired the way to
Dr. Hull's and found the walk of about a mile an agreeable change. The
doctor and his wife welcomed me cordially. They were old friends of my
family. I spent a day with them, riding about with the doctor on his
visits to patients, and making inquiries for a school in want of a
teacher. On the third day we heard of a vacancy in a district in the
west end of the town, seven or eight miles distant, called Tongore.
Hither I walked one day, saw the trustees, and made my application. I
suspect my youth and general greenness caused them to hesitate; they
would consider and let me know inside of a week. So, in a day or two,
hearing of no other vacancies, I returned home the same way I had come.
It was the first day of April when I made the return trip. I remember
this because at one of the hotels where we changed horses I saw a copper
cent lying upon the floor, and, stooping to pick it up, found it nailed
fast