o feed them. I took care of the birds
myself, and sold them all in business-like fashion. My receipts were
all profit, as I had nothing to do with the expense account, and my
records were kept as carefully as I knew how.

We thoroughly enjoyed this little business affair, and I can still
close my eyes, and distinctly see the gentle and dignified birds
walking quietly along the brook and through the woods, cautiously
stealing the way to their nests. To this day I enjoy the sight of a
flock of turkeys, and never miss an opportunity of studying them.

My mother was a good deal of a disciplinarian, and upheld the standard
of the family with a birch switch when it showed a tendency to
deteriorate. Once, when I was being punished for some unfortunate
doings which had taken place in the village school, I felt called upon
to explain after the whipping had begun that I was innocent of the
charge.

"Never mind," said my mother, "we have started in on this whipping,
and it will do for the next time." This attitude was maintained to its
final conclusion in many ways. One night, I remember, we boys could
not resist the temptation to go skating in the moonlight,
notwithstanding the fact that we had been expressly forbidden to
skate at night. Almost before we got fairly started we heard a cry for
help, and found a neighbour, who had broken through the ice, was in
danger of drowning. By pushing a pole to him we succeeded in fishing
him out, and restored him safe and sound to his grateful family. As we
were not generally expected to save a man's life every time we skated,
my brother William and I felt that there were mitigating circumstances
connected with this particular disobedience which might be taken into
account in the final judgment, but this idea proved to be erroneous.

STARTING AT WORK

Although the plan had been to send me to college, it seemed best at
sixteen that I should leave the high school in which I had nearly
completed the course and go into a commercial college in Cleveland for
a few months. They taught bookkeeping and some of the fundamental
principles of commercial transactions. This training, though it lasted
only a few months, was very valuable to me. But how to get a job--that
was the question. I tramped the streets for days and weeks, asking
merchants and storekeepers if they didn't want a boy; but the offer
of my services met with little appreciation. No one wanted a boy, and
very few showed any overwh