, August 29, 1773. He was
the youngest of nine children, two of whom died before he was born.
From his earliest years he was fond of reading, and at school he was
called a good scholar. His religious training was carefully attended
to, and to this, and the Christian example which accompanied it, he
ascribed his conversion, and the views he subsequently embraced of the
Christian doctrines.

"When he was seven or eight years old he had many serious thoughts of
God and duty. The requirement that he should give up all for God, as
he understood it, filled him with gloom.

"During several of the subsequent years, the subject of religion dwelt
on his mind, and he was occasionally deeply impressed. One of the
difficult things was to comprehend the notion of faith. The promise
was: 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.' He believed,
as he supposed, and he had been baptized, but he could not feel that
he was safe. Must he believe that he, personally, should be saved? But
what if he mistook his own character, and believed what was false;
would his opinion of his safety _make_ him safe. He was ashamed to be
known as a religious inquirer, and, therefore, remained longer in
darkness. Finding that he had been observed by his father to have
become a more diligent student of the Scriptures, he left the practice
of reading them before the family. Sometimes, assuming a false
appearance of indifference, he carried his difficulties to his mother,
who was able to furnish a satisfactory solution. She seems to have
been a person of unusual intelligence as well as goodness. Her memory
was ever cherished by him with the most grateful affection, as it
regarded his own spiritual progress. He believed that he suffered
unspeakable loss from the concealment of his early feelings on the
subject of religion, and did not doubt that many failed of conversion
from this foolish reserve. It was not till a number of years after
this that his religious life commenced.

"The only school which young Shurtleff had the opportunity of
attending, before his eighteenth or nineteenth year, was the common
school of the district. He made good proficiency, but nothing worthy
of note occurred in relation to his studies till he was about fifteen
years of age. He then began to think, as he says. Before that time, he
had repeated by rote whatever he had been taught. The first impulse to
reflection was a new discovery. He had been taught from childhood that