ton, D. C., at the age of eighty-seven, with her son John.
I shall always remember with sincere gratitude her care and
forbearance manifested toward a rather wild and reckless boy at
the disagreeable age of from eight to twelve years. Affection may
make a mother bear with the torment of her own child at that age,
but will rarely induce an equal leniency toward that of another.

My return to Lancaster was a happy event in my life. I renewed my
old acquaintance with boys of my age, and was on intimate terms
with Philemon Ewing, Charles Garaghty, Frederick Reese, W. P. Rice,
W. Winthrop Sifford and others. My brother, William Tecumseh, was
three years my senior, and he and his associates of his own age
rather looked down upon their juniors. Still, I had a good deal
of intercourse with him, mainly in the way of advice on his part.
At that time he was a steady student, quiet in his manners and
easily moved by sympathy or affection. I was regarded as a wild,
reckless lad, eager in controversy and ready to fight. No one
could then anticipate that he was to be a great warrior and I a
plodding lawyer and politician. I fired my first gun over his
shoulder. He took me with him to carry the game, mostly squirrels
and pigeons. He was then destined to West Point, and was preparing
for it. To me the future was all unknown.

I entered, with all the boys referred to and many others, the
Academy of Mark and Matthew Howe, then well established, and of
great reputation,--and deservedly so. The schoolrooms were large,
and furnished with desks and chairs, an improvement upon the old
benches with boards in front. The course of studies mapped out
for me was much the same as I pursued at Mount Vernon, with a
specialty of the first six books of Euclid, and of algebra. Latin
was taught but little. From the first, arithmetic, algebra and
surveying were my favorite studies, and in those I became proficient.
We had an improvised theatre in which we acted plays and made
speeches.

When I entered the school Matthew Howe was the regulator, teacher
and dominie. He was the supreme autocrat, from whom there was no
appeal. All the boys respected him, for he certainly was a good
teacher, but they did not like his domineering way. I got along
with him pretty well for some months, but one day after I had
mastered my lessons I rested my head on my desk when I was sharply
reproved by him. I said that I did not feel very well and had
learn