He was an upright magistrate, a Puritan in
principle, and a pillar of the Baptist Church, highly respected
throughout the province. He came from a long-lived family, and one
so prolific that it is said most of the Princes of New England are
descended from it. I have heard a story of him which may illustrate
the freedom of the time in matters of legal proceedings before a
magistrate's court. At that time a party in a suit could not be a
witness. In the terse language of the common people, "no man could
swear money into his own pocket." The plaintiff in the case advised
the magistrate in advance that he had no legal proof of the debt,
but that defendant freely acknowledged it in private conversation.

"Well," said the magistrate, "bring him in here and get him to talk
about it while I am absent."

The time came.

"If you had n't sued me I would have paid you," said the defendant.

On the moment the magistrate stepped from behind a door with the
remark,--

"I think you will pay him now, whether or no."

My father was the most rational and the most dispassionate of men.
The conduct of his life was guided by a philosophy based on Combe's
"Constitution of Man," and I used to feel that the law of the
land was a potent instrument in shaping his paternal affections.
His method of seeking a wife was so far unique that it may not be
devoid of interest, even at this date. From careful study he had
learned that the age at which a man should marry was twenty-five.
A healthy and well-endowed offspring should be one of the main
objects in view in entering the marriage state, and this required
a mentally gifted wife. She must be of different temperament from
his own and an economical housekeeper. So when he found the age of
twenty-five approaching, he began to look about. There was no one in
Wallace who satisfied the requirements. He therefore set out afoot
to discover his ideal. In those days and regions the professional
tramp and mendicant were unknown, and every farmhouse dispensed its
hospitality with an Arcadian simplicity little known in our times.
Wherever he stopped overnight he made a critical investigation of
the housekeeping, perhaps rising before the family for this purpose.
He searched in vain until his road carried him out of the province.
One young woman spoiled any possible chance she might have had by a
lack of economy in the making of bread. She was asked what she did
with an unnecessarily large re