James Redpath, The Public Life of Captain John Brown

[33] 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 &