as scarcely "three feet high" when an
aged and venerable grandmother said one day, _in my hearing_, and
probably _for_ my hearing, "I always did hope one of my grandsons would
be a minister." This, however, neither interested me much nor encouraged
me; for (reader will you believe it?), as the doctor was regarded in
those days as more than half a sorcerer, and the lawyer three-fourths
devil, so the minister was deemed by many as almost half an idiot,
except for his learning.

I am not, by any means, trifling with you. It was the serious belief of
many--I think I might say of most--that those boys who "took to
learning" were by nature rather "weak in the attic," especially those
who inclined to the ministry. It was a common joke concerning an idiot
or half idiot, "send him to college."[A]

In short, so strongly was this unfounded impression concerning the
native imbecility of ministers, and in general of literary men, fastened
on my mind as well as on the minds of most people, that I grew up nearly
to manhood with a sort of confused belief that as a general rule they
were below par in point of good, common sense. One prominent reason, as
I supposed, why they were sent to college and wrought into that
particular shape, was to bring them up to an equality with their
fellows. Hence, I not only repelled with a degree of indignation the
thought of becoming a minister, but felt really demeaned by my natural
fondness for books and school; and like the poet Cowper, hardly dared,
all my early lifetime, to look higher than the shoe buckles of my
associates. Still, I could not wholly suppress the strong desire to
_know_ which had penetrated and pervaded my soul, and which had been
nurtured and fed not only by an intelligent mother but by a few books I
had read. Perhaps the life of Franklin, already referred to, had as much
influence with me as any thing of the kind. For along with the love of
knowledge which was so much developed by this book, the love of doing
good was introduced. The doctor says, somewhere, that he always set a
high value on a doer of good; and it is possible, nay, I might even say
probable, that this desire, which subsequently became a passion with me,
had its origin in this very remark.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] To illustrate this point, and show clearly the state of the public
opinion, I will relate an anecdote. A certain calf in the neighborhood,
after long and patient trial, was pronounced too ignorant to be able