o yield equal political and
civil rights to all their countrymen of every creed and color.

CHAPTER II.
MY BOYHOOD DAYS AND EARLY LIFE.
Born at Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823--Death of My Father and Its
Effect on Our Family--Early Days at School--A Dead Sheep in the
Schoolroom--Lesson in Sunday Sport--Some of My Characteristics--My
Attack on the Schoolmaster--Robbing an Orchard--A Rodman at Fourteen
and My Experiences While Surveying--Debates at Beverly--Early Use
of Liquor--First Visit to Mansfield in 1839--The Famous Campaign
of 1840--I Begin the Study of Law.

I was born at Lancaster, Ohio, on the 10th day of May, 1823, the
eighth child of Charles and Mary Sherman. My first distinct
recollection of events is connected with the scenes and incidents
that followed the death of my father on the 24th day of June, 1829.
I have a dim recollection before that time of being sent to school
with my elder brothers to keep me out of mischief, and of my father
praising me for learning the alphabet, but all other impressions
of my infancy were absorbed in the great family tragedy. We were
warned to keep quiet, and to remain out of doors, so as not to
disturb mother, who was critically ill, and, as our grandmother
was then supreme in the household, we knew that her will was law,
and that punishment invariably followed an offense. During these
enforced absences many were the wise resolves, or, rather, the
conceits, that the boys discussed for "helping mother."

But time, which mellows every misfortune, brought so many changes.
My sister, Elizabeth, was soon married to General William J. Reese.
My brother, Charles, came home a full-fledged graduate, and, as we
thought, very learned. Everybody was kind. The affairs of my
father were settled. The homestead and garden were secured to my
mother, and she had, in addition, a settled income from her father's
estate of $400 a year, while grandmother had her "fire lands," and
an assured but small income besides. In those days a little money
went a great way; but there were eleven children of us to be cared
for,--from Charles, aged eighteen, to Fanny, aged three months.
The separation of this family was imperative, but the friends of
my father were numerous, and their offerings were generous and
urgent. Charles entered the family of our cousin, Mr. Stoddard,
an old and leading lawyer in Dayton, Ohio, studied law, and in two
years was admitted to the bar. James, the next eldest br