ly the sections of the latter on
the Prerogatives of the Crown, the Rights of the Subject, and the
Province of Parliament.

As my Father complained that the Methodists had robbed him of his son,
and of the fruits of that son's labours, I wished to remove that ground
of complaint as far as possible by hiring an English farm-labourer, then
just arrived in Canada, in my place, and paid him out of the proceeds of
my own labour for two years. But although the farmer was the best hired
man my Father had ever had, the result of his farm-productions during
these two years did not equal those of the two years that I had been the
chief labourer on the farm, and my Father came to me one day uttering
the single sentence, "Egerton, you must come home," and then walked
away. My first promptings would have led me to say, "Father, you have
expelled me from your house for being a Methodist; I am so still. I have
employed a man for you in my place for two years, during which time I
have been a student and a teacher, and unaccustomed to work on a farm, I
cannot now resume it." But I had left home for the honour of religion,
and I thought the honour of religion would be promoted by my returning
home, and showing still that the religion so much spoken against would
enable me to leave the school for the plough and the harvest-field, as
it had enabled me to leave home without knowing at the moment whether I
should be a teacher or a farm-labourer.

I relinquished my engagement as teacher within a few days, engaging
again on the farm with such determination and purpose that I ploughed
every acre of ground for the season, cradled every stalk of wheat, rye,
and oats, and mowed every spear of grass, pitched the whole, first on a
waggon, and then from the waggon on the hay-mow or stack. While the
neighbours were astonished at the possibility of one man doing so much
work, I neither felt fatigue nor depression, for "the joy of the Lord
was my strength," both of body and mind, and I made nearly, if not
quite, as much progress in my studies as I had done while teaching
school. My Father then became changed in regard both to myself and the
religion I professed, desiring me to remain at home; but, having been
enabled to maintain a good conscience in the sight of God, and a good
report before men, in regard to my filial duty during my minority, I
felt that my life's work lay in another direction. I had refused,
indeed, the advice of senior Methodist min