d duty, for my
father, conscious of the too gentle nature of his wife and the poverty
in which he was about to leave her, had on his deathbed, committed, had
indeed made a solemn gift of his little boy to the daughter whom he
trusted most; and for fifty years did she fulfil that trust. On her
tombstone are engraved these brief but true words: "Faithful daughter,
sister, friend, teacher." New England has been full of such devoted,
self-sacrificing daughters and sisters, and still is. I do not single
her out as exceptional, but to give her the tribute she merits, and that
she may not be among the uncounted and unremembered where these pages
shall be read.

In my sister's school besides good manners, which now seem to me the
best part of my education, I learned to draw and to sing; and in which I
delighted most, it were hard to say. Never before had I heard any music,
except that of the doleful and droning church choir. We sang simple
songs about nature, conduct, duties to the Heavenly Father, to parents
and teacher. Their notes lingered in my ears for a great many years, and
I can still hum some of them. We drew plain figures, blocks, cones, the
sides and roofs of buildings and outlines of trees. In penmanship I made
no progress, and it was always unformed and illiterate until I was a
man, and took it in hand without a teacher. My two years' detention from
school did not seem to put me into classes below me in age. I could read
and spell very well. There were other longer or shorter periods when my
education was entirely interrupted; yet I did not have to begin my
studies exactly where I had left off. Something carries us along
unconsciously and a natural intelligence bridges over the superficial
differences between ourselves and our associates. How often have I
deceived myself into thinking I knew something when it was merely a
borrowed acquirement, as it were, a cuticular absorption from a
transient environment or interest, from classmates, social circles,
clubs and books. Great books are the most flattering deceivers of all. I
never read one that did not touch me nearly in this way. The fall to my
own proper level is painful, but has been somewhat stayed and alleviated
by reading another. Being of this plastic, imitative nature, I soon took
on the manners and childish ideas of my companions in my sister's
school. I was already aristocrat enough to look down with indifference
upon the boys of the Landing and other parts