with not a little persuasion before I could be
induced to overcome the diffidence I felt about making my private
history public, and appearing in print. By those who have become
authors, my feelings will be understood and appreciated; but to others
who constitute the reading public it would be impossible to describe the
trepidation with which the tyro puts forth his first literary venture,
and had it not been for the earnest entreaties of my esteemed friend,
Dr. Clark Johnson, who used naively to say that what was a source of
such pleasure to him must be entertaining to the public, I doubt very
much if I should have ever put pen to paper in the capacity of an
author.

With this introduction, I will, as briefly as may be, relate my
experiences, nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice.

My family were originally from Massachusetts, my father being a
descendant of the Puritans, he inherited many of the qualities of his
ancestors, and, joined to a high integrity, he possessed a dogged will
that at times amounted to stubbornness. From childhood he had led the
life of a farmer, and my earliest recollections are associated with
country life. My father's disposition might be characterized as
restless; and after sojourning for a time in one place, he would evince
symptoms of uneasiness which would result in the family moving to some
new spot, and breaking ground in virgin soil on the confines of
civilization. By these successive removals we soon found ourselves far
to the west of the home of our ancestors, and at the time my father
resolved to go to California, we owned a very nice farm in Missouri,
and as far as I could see were very comfortably situated. On returning
from the county seat one Saturday, my father electrified us with the
intelligence that he thought seriously of going West. Had a bombshell
exploded in our midst it could scarcely have created greater
consternation; on inquiring what had induced such a sudden determination
on his part, he was fain to confess that he had met a gentleman in town
who had but just arrived from the new El Dorado, and who spoke so
enthusiastically of this marvelous country, that he led my father's too
diligent ear captive, and his mind was saturated with the desire to see,
without further delay, this wonderful land. The rest of the family
stoutly objected to such a hasty resolve, and we finally effected a
compromise, and it was agreed that the stranger should be invited t