Truly says the poet, that the child is father of the man. This is why every incident of the childhood of great men is so eagerly sought and cherished by their friends and admirers.
When the fruit is glorious, we desire to see the blossom, too. Happily, in the case of
, this desire can be amply gratified-and in a way, and by the pen, of all others the best fitted to do justice to it. Gladly I here step aside for the old hero; to permit him, in his own inimitable style, to narrate the history of his infancy, and early manhood.
All that it becomes me to write, by way of preface, is a brief statement of the story of this autobiography.
, in the winter of 1857, among other noble friends of freedom here, he made the acquaintance of
; who, recognizing him at once as an historic character,--although clad in a plain suit of clothes only, and with a leathern strap for a neck-tie,--received him at their hospitable home with all the honor justly due to a hero and a saint.
Their children soon learned
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to love the old warrior; for, like all godlike men, he loved little children; and, like all young souls, they instinctively recognized the true hero.
One of them asked him many questions about his childhood, and he recounted, with great interest, the incidents of his infancy and boyish days.
When the old man was preparing to return to
, Master Henry (to whom the letter is addressed) asked his father's permission to give all his pocket money to
.
The permission was readily given, and the old hero received the money.
He promised, at the same time,--if he should ever find the leisure for it,--to write out for his young friend an account of his own early life.
, with military supplies, in the month of July following,--he himself driving a team,--he was detained for some time by the failure of certain parties to fulfil their promises to send him money.
He then fulfilled
promise, and wrote this autobiographical sketch.
I have copied it with the fidelity of a Chinese artist: Italics, punctuation, orthography, and omissions.
I add a few notes only, and divide it into paragraphs.
It fills six pages of
in the original manuscript, which is very closely written, and contains two paragraphs only -the letter and the postscript.
It is hardly necessary for me to say that the internal evidences of its perfect fidelity are overwhelming: for we see throughout it the same grand traits in the barefooted, bareheaded boy, clad in “buckskin breeches, suspended often with one leather strap and sometimes with two;” who idolized the “bobtail squirrel,” and
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had “a mourning season” at its death; and who, at the age of twelve, swore eternal war against slavery; which, when in the jail and the
, astonished and delighted the world.
My Dear Young Friend,
I have not forgotten my promise to write you; but my constant care, & anxiety have obliged me put it off a long time.
I do not flatter myself that I
can write any thing that will very much interest you: but have concluded to send you a short story of a certain boy of my acquaintance: & for convenience and shortness of name, I will call him John.
His story will be mainly a narration of follies and errors; which it is to be hoped
you may avoid; but there is one thing connected with it, which will be calculated to encourage any young person to persevering effort: & that is the degree of success
in accomplishing his objects which to a great extent marked the course of this boy throughout my entire acquaintance with him; notwithstanding his moderate capacity; & still more moderate acquirements.
John was born May 9th 1800, at
Torrington, Litchfield Co,
Connecticut; of poor but respectable parents: a defendant on the side of his father of one of the company of the
Mayflower who landed at
Plymouth 1620.
His mother was decended from a man who came at an early period to
New England from
Amsterdam, in Holland.
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Both his
Father's & his
Mother's Fathers served in the war of the revolution: His Father's Father; died in a barn at New York while in the service, in 1776.
I cannot tell you of any thing in the first Four years of John's life worth mentioning save that at that
early age he was tempted by Three large Brass Pins belonging to a girl who lived in the family &
stole them. In this he was detected by his Mother; & after having a full day to think of the wrong: received from her a thorough whipping.
When he was Five years old his Father
1 moved to
Ohio; then a wilderness filled with wild beasts, &
Indians.
During the long journey which was performed in part or mostly with an
ox team; he was called on by turns to assist a boy Five years older (who had been adopted by his Father & Mother) & learned to think he could accomplish
smart things in driving the Cows; and riding the horses.
Sometimes he met with Rattle Snakes which were very large; & which some of the company generally managed to kill.
After getting to
Ohio in 1805 he was for some time rather
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afraid of the Indians, & of their Rifles; but this soon wore off: & he used to hang about them quite as much as was consistent with good manners; & learned a trifle of their talk.
His Father learned to dress Deer Skins, & at 6 years old John was installed a young Buck Skin — He was perhaps rather observing as he ever after remembered the entire process of Deer Skin
dressing; so that he could at any time dress his own leather such as Squirrel, Raccoon, Cat,
Wolf or Dog Skins; & also learned to make Whip Lashes: which brought him some change at times; & was of considerable service in many ways.--At Six years old John began to be quite a rambler in the wild new country finding birds & Squirrels, & sometimes a wild
Turkey's nest.
But about this period he was placed in the school of
adversity: which my young friend was a most necessary part of his early training.
You may laugh when you come to read about it; but these were sore trials to John: whose earthly treasures were very few & small.
These were the beginning of a severe but much needed course of discipline which he afterwards was to pass through; & which it is to be hoped has learned him before this time that the Heavenly Father sees it best to take all the little things out of his hands which he has ever placed in them.
When John was in his Sixth year a poor
Indian boy gave him a Yellow Marble the first he had ever seen.
This he thought a great deal of; & kept it a good while; but at last
he lost it beyond recovery.
It took years to heal the wound; & I think he cried at times about it. About Five months after this he caught a young Squirrel
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tearing off his tail in doing it; & getting severely bitten at the same time himself.
He however held on
to the little bob tail Squirrel; & finally got him perfectly tamed, so that he almost idolized his pet.
This too he lost; by its wandering away; or by getting killed: & for a year or Two John was
in mourning,; and looking at all the Squirrels he could see to try & discover Bob tail,
if possible. I must not neglect to tell you of a very
bad and foolish habit to which John was somewhat addicted.
I mean
telling lies: generally to screen himself from blame; or from punishment.
He could not well endure to be reproached; & I now think had he been oftener encouraged to be entirely frank;
by making frankness a kind of atonement for some of his faults; he would not have been so often guilty of this fault; nor have been obliged to struggle
so long in after life with
so mean a habit.
John was
never quarrelsome; but was
excessively fond of the
hardest and roughest kind of plays; & could
never get enough [of] them.
Indeed when for a short time he was sometimes sent to School the opportunity it afforded to wrestle & Snow ball & run & jump & knock off old seedy
wool hats offered to him almost the only compensation for the confinement, & restraints of school.
I need not tell you that with such a feeling & but little chance of going to school
at all: he did not become much of a schollar.
2 He would always choose to stay
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at home & work hard rather than be sent to school; & during the warm season might generally be seen
barefooted & bareheaded: with
Buck skin Breeches suspended often with one leather strap over his shoulder but sometimes with Two.
To be sent off through the wilderness alone to very considerable distances was particularly his delight; & in this he was often indulged so that by the time he was Twelve years old he was sent off more than a Hundred Miles with companies of cattle; & he would have thought his character much injured had he been obliged to be helped in any such job. This was a boyish kind of feeling but characteristic however.
3
At Eight years old John was left a Motherless boy which loss was complete & permanent, for notwithstanding his Father again married to a sensible, intelligent, & on many accounts a very estimable woman: “
yet he never adopted her in feeling” : but continued to pine after his own Mother for years.
This opperated very unfavourably uppon him; as he was
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both naturally fond of females; & withall extremely diffident; & deprived him of a suitable connecting link between the different sexes; the want of which might under some circumstances have proved his ruin.
When the war broke out with
England,
4 his Father soon commenced furnishing the troops with beef cattle, the collecting & driving of which
afforded him some opportunity for the chase (on foot) of wild steers & other cattle through the woods.
During this war he had some chance to form his own boyish judgment of
men & measures: & to become somewhat familiarly acquainted with some who have figured before the country since that time.
5 The effect of what he saw during the war was to so far disgust him with military affairs that he would neither train,
or drill; but paid fines ; & got along like a Quaker untill his age finally has cleared him of Military duty.
During the war with
England a circumstance occurred that in the end made him a most
determined Abolitionist: & led him to declare,
or Swear: Eternal war with Slavery.
He was staying for a short time
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with a very gentlemanly landlord once a
United States Marshall who held a slave boy near his own age very active, intelligent and good feeling; & to whom John was under considerable obligation for numerous little acts of kindness.
The master made a great pet of John: brought him to table with his first company; & friends; called their attention to every little smart thing he
said, or did: & to the fact of his being more than a hundred miles from home with a company of cattle alone; while the
negro boy (who was fully if not more than his equal
6) was badly clothed, poorly fed;
& lodged in cold weather: & beaten before his eyes with Iron Shovels or any other thing that came first to hand.
This brought John to reflect on the wretched; hopeless condition, of
Fatherless & Motherless slave
children: for such children have neither Fathers nor Mothers to protect, & provide for them.
He sometimes would raise the question
is God their Father?
At the age of Ten years an old friend induced him to read a little history; & offered him the free use of a good library; by which he acquired some taste for reading: which formed the principle part of his early education: & diverted him in a great measure from bad company.
He by this means grew to be very fond of the company, & conversation of old & intelligent persons.
He never attempted to dance in his life; nor did he ever learn to know
one of a pack of
cards from
another. He learned nothing of
Grammer; nor did
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he get at school so much knowledge of common Arithmetic as the Four ground rules.
This will give you some general idea of the first Fifteen years of his life; during which time he became very strong & large of his age & ambitious to perform the full labour of a man; at almost any kind of hard work.
By reading the lives of great, wise & good men their sayings, and writings; he grew to a dislike of vain & frivolous
conversation & persons; & was often greatly obliged by the kind manner in which older & more intelligent persons treated him at their houses; & in conversation ; which was a great relief on account of his extreme bashfulness.
7
He very early in life became ambitious to excel in doing any thing he undertook to perform.
This kind of feeling I would recommend to all young persons both
male & female : as it will certainly tend to secure admission to the company of the more intelligent; & better portion of every community.
By all means endeavor to excel in some laudable pursuit.
I had like to have forgotten to tell you of one of John's misfortunes which set rather hard on him while a young boy. He had by some means
perhaps by gift of his Father become the owner of a little Ewe
Lamb which did finely till it was about Two Thirds grown; & then sickened & died.
This brought another protracted
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mourning, season: not that he felt the pecuniary loss so much: for that was never his disposition: but so strong & earnest were his attachments.
John had been taught from earliest childhood to “fear God & keep his commandments;” & though quite skeptical he had always by turns felt much serious doubt as to his future well being; & about this time became to some extent a convert to Christianity & ever after a firm believer in the divine authenticity of the
Bible.
8 With this book he became very familiar, & possessed a most unusual memory of its entire contents.
Now some of the things I have been
telling of; were just such as I would recommend to you: & I wd like to know that you had selected these out; & adopted them as part of your own plan of life; & I wish you to have
some definite plan. Many seem to have none; & others never stick to any that they do form.
This was not the case with John.
He followed up with
tenacity whatever he set about so long as it answered his general purpose: & hence he rarely failed in some good degree to effect the things he undertook.
This was so much the case that he
habitually expected to succeed in his undertakings.
With this feeling
should be coupled; the consciousness that our plans are right in themselves.
During the period I have named John had acquired a kind of ownership to certain animals of some little
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value but as he had come to understand that the
title of minors might be a little imperfect; he had recourse to various means in order to secure a more
independant; & perfect right of property.
One of those means was to exchange with his Father for some thing of far less value.
Another was by trading with other persons for something his Father had never owned.
Older persons have some times found difficulty with
titles.
From Fifteen to Twenty years old, he spent most of his time working at the Tanner &
Currier's trade keeping Bachelors hall; & he officiating as
Cook; & for most of the time as forman of the establishment under his Father.
During this period he found much trouble with some of the bad habits I have mentioned & with some that I have not told you off: his concience urging him forward with great power in this matter: but his close attention to
business; & success in its management; together with the way he got along with a company of men, & boys; made him quite a favorite with the serious & more intelligent portion of older persons.
This was so much the case; & secured for him so many little notices from those he esteemed; that his vanity was very much fed by it: & he came forward to manhood quite full of self-conceit; & self-confident; notwithstanding his
extreme bashfulness.
A younger brother used sometimes to remind him of this: & to repeat to him
this expression which you may somewhere find, “A king against whom there is no rising up.”
The habit so early formed of being obeyed rendered him in after life too much disposed to speak in an imperious & dictating way. From Fifteen years &
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upward he felt a good deal of anxiety to learn; but could only read & study a little; both for want of time; & on account of inflammation of the eyes.
He however managed by the help of books to make himself tolerably well acquainted with common arithmetic; & Surveying: which he practiced more or less after he was Twenty years old.
At a little past Twenty years led by his own inclination &
prompted also by his Father, he married a
remarkably plain; but neat industrious & economical girl; of excellent character; earnest piety; & good practical common sense; about one year younger than himself.
This woman by her mild, frank, &
more than all else: by her very consistent conduct; acquired & ever while she lived maintained a most powerful; & good influence over him. Her plain but kind admonitions generally had the right effect; without arousing his haughty obstinate temper.
John began early in life to discover a great liking to fine Cattle, Horses, Sheep, & Swine: & as soon as circumstances would enable him he began to be a practical
Shepherd: it being a calling for which
in early life he had a kind of
enthusiastic longing:
9 together with the idea that as a business it bid fair to afford him the means of carrying out his greatest or principle object.
I have now given you a kind of general idea of the early life of this boy; & it I believed it would be worth the trouble: or afford
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much interest to any good feeling person: I might be tempted to tell you something of his course in after life; or manhood.
I do not say that I
will do it.
You will discover that in using up my
half sheets to save paper; I have written Two pages, so that one does not follow the other as it should.
I have no time to write it over; & but for unavoidable hindrances in traveling I can hardly say when I should have written what I have.
With an honest desire for your best good, I subscribe myself, Your Friend
P. S. I had like to have forgotten to acknowledge your contribution in aid of the cause in which I serve.
God Allmighty
bless you; my son.
J. B.
's early life to be added.
“At the age of eighteen or twenty,” writes a reliable authority, “he left
, and came East, with the design of acquiring a liberal education through some of our
colleges.
His ultimate design was the gospel ministry.
In pursuance of this object he consulted and conferred with
God had higher work for this sedate, dignified young man than to write and deliver sermons to a parish.
He was raising him up as a deliverer of captives and a teacher of righteousness to a nation; as the conserver of the light of true Christianity, when it was threatened with extinction, under the rubbish of creeds and constitutions, and iniquities enacted into laws.
