adventures in the Revolution. He inspired me with
a devotion to his country which was fostered by my mother. When I was
sixteen, my father was thrown from his horse and brought home to us
insensible, and lived with us but a few hours. My mother's health,
naturally very delicate, sank under this great affliction. She lived
only a year afterward, and I was left to comfort my grandparents, now
quite advanced in years. They would not hear of my going away again to
school, and engaged a private tutor--a young gentleman, a graduate of
Yale. I had been under Mr. Huntington's instructions four years when
the country began to be convulsed with the whispers of secession--one
State after another passing that miserable ordinance--my grandfather
said:

"'Paul, my boy, if Mississippi goes out, I shall go, too--not only out
of the Union, but out of this world of sorrow and trouble. I cannot
live. I have felt my tie to earth loosening very fast since your
grandmother left me, and I feel I cannot live any longer if my State
shall be classed with traitors.'

"I have failed to tell you grandmother died in my eighteenth year. Mr.
Huntington, feeling sure of what was coming, left us for his home in
Medford, never for one moment expressing to us any views on the
subject now engrossing all minds; and, when parting with him, I
whispered, 'If it comes, I am for my country! Look for me North within
a few weeks.' It did come, as you know; and when one of my aunts--now
both married--ran laughingly in, with a blue cockade pinned on her
shoulders, exclaiming:

"'Father, we are out!'

"She stopped in horror, and looked upon the calm, cold face. But the
spirit had fled. We know not if he had heard or not, but I trust he
had passed to perfect peace before his heart had been so sorely tried.

Next to our plantation was the estate of one of the oldest,
wealthiest, and proudest families of the State. The daughter and I had
grown up together, and I loved her more than all and everything else
on earth. Her brother and I were very intimate--both having no
brother, we were everything to each other. He had mounted the Palmetto
badge, and was all for war. My mind was no longer wavering, since my
grandfather's death. I was going up North, and, after a short visit to
my mother's sister--the wife of a very influential and patriotic man
in Boston--I would offer myself to my government. Now, you will know
my sorrow.

"I had expected to meet opposition, entr