exhorting me to seek religion and become converted. It made no
impression on me; I understood no word he said. Besides, just the same
words had always been familiar to me and had never conveyed any meaning
to my simple ears. It did not trouble me to be called a sinner; it never
occurred to me to question whether I was or not. In short in my
innocence and indifference, I was a perfect type of the thing itself, as
understood by the church. But when my master invited me to go a-fishing
on some half holiday, that was a very different sort of a text, which I
well understood. Alas, when the fish did not bite, it gave an
uncomfortable opportunity for a little exhortation. In addition to the
work in the shop I spent much time in the office, where I was employed
in putting the last touches to the pistols before being packed for
delivery. I burnished the silver plates, set in the handles, cleaned and
oiled the chambers, hammers and nipples, and polished the whole with
fine chamois skin. Thus I had a hand in the beginning and completion of
the construction of a pistol, and knew pretty well all the intermediate
operations. I also obtained an inkling of the way the business was
conducted by hearing the conversation and discussions of the
proprietors. I heard many secrets. Some of them confused my small
glimmerings of moral sense. It seemed to me that I had known the same
sort of obliquities among boys in the swapping of jacknives. I heard the
bookkeeper say one day, "business is business; this is no Sunday
school." I had bewildering thoughts. Was it possible these pistols were
not what they seemed and would not kill a man? For I knew they were sold
mostly in the South for the fighting of duels. I longed to try one on a
cat. The sun rose and set on my suspicions, with never a solution. To
this day I cannot rid myself of an innate doubt when I make a purchase.
I expect to be cheated.

I seemed in a fair way at last of acquiring a trade, and it might have
been, except for the accident of my boarding place. For there I first
came in contact with books and students. It was not a regular boarding
house, save for three months in the winter. I was taken into the family
on account of its association with mine long before in Bellingham. The
master of the house had formerly been the clergyman of that town, but
was now a botanic-eclectic physician and general medical professor of a
school, which held one winter session in his house. It was att