and said he could not. So the teacher triumphed over the trustee, to the great joy of the class.

The poor opportunities and meagre facilities for acquiring an education in those days are fairly set forth in the foregoing. No one has felt this lack and the many difficulties in obtaining an education more than I. With such learning as I had been able to acquire, I determined to enter a law office somewhere and do my best to become a lawyer.

IV

STUDY OF THE LAW

Leaving Home - Bowling Green - Reading Law with Hon. James O. Broadhead — Experience with a Water-faucet-Prominent Families- Judge Ezra Hunt My Future Wife - My First Legal Battle.

On the 27th of November, 1857, I bade my mother good-bye and, with a grip that contained some clothing, rode on horseback to Troy for the purpose of taking the stage for Bowling Green, to enter the law office of Honorable James O. Broadhead as a law student. The horse was taken back to the farm by a colored boy that accompanied me. At eight o'clock in the evening I took passage on the stage and started on my journey of thirty-five miles. The night was very cold and the snow was deep. The stage-coach belonged to Ben Hawkins of Bowling Green, who had a contract with the Government to carry the mail from St. Charles to Palmyra. This was an old coach, drawn by two horses. It did not have a wrap of any kind for the comfort of passengers. It happened that I was the only traveler that night, and the only way I had of keeping my blood in circulation was to get out and walk up every hill.

The first place for changing the horses was at Prairieville, on the line between Lincoln and Pike

counties. This stage stand was about half way between Troy and Bowling Green and was kept by a gentleman named Pollard. He had a hot, blazing fire going in the house that was most enticing. I got out and warmed myself while the horses were being changed, but I was not there long before the horn blew for another start for Bowling Green. The stopping by that fire did me more harm than good for I suffered from the cold more intensely than before. Finally, about daylight on the morning of the 28th of November, we pulled up in front of Blain's Hotel in Bowling Green. I was at the end of my journey.

I found the proprietor lying on a couch in the "office" and somewhat, as I believed, under the influence of liquor. After warming about the big stove for a while I became very thirsty. Noticing on one side of the room a large tank supposed to contain about twenty gallons of water for the use of the hotel guests, I went to it and discovered a faucet, the like of which I had never seen before. The end of this faucet was composed of a metal button about as large as a silver dollar. To get the water, this button had to be turned in a particular way. I did not understand the process, so I grasped the button and pulled. The whole thing came out and the water spurted halfway across the floor in a great stream. This seemed to anger the proprietor, Mr. Blain, who jumped to his feet and demanded to know where I came from. I told him as best I could, and he then said, "You certainly have never been away from home before!" To this I meekly assented; the flow of water was stopped and I patiently waited for the breakfast bell

Having eaten I then began to inquire about Mr. Broadhead, for I did not know a soul in the placenot even Mr. Broadhead- as my arrangement to enter his office had been made by letter. I was then told that he was out of town and would not return for a week. I located his office and went to it, finding in charge there a young lawyer by the name of Campbell now the Honorable Robert A. Campbell. He seemed to know of my coming and it was not long before I was comfortably seated in what appeared a very large room. This office was on the second floor of a two-story brick building and was reached by an outside stairway. There was a small room in the rear of the office that afterwards became my bedroom. The lower floor was occupied by Doctors Bolton and Reynolds as a drug store and here they had their office also. They were co-partners both in the drug business and as practicing physicians.

In the way above described, I was inducted into the quaint old town of Bowling Green. It was indeed a curious old place. The court-house and jail stood in a public square, and a store, livery stable, blacksmith shop, hotel, and saloon faced the square. Residences were scattered here and there without much seeming attempt to place them in order upon the streets. The population, black and white, did not exceed three hundred souls all told.

The most prominent families were those of Mr. Broadhead, Judge Hunt, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Bolton, Judge Murray, William Blain, Elcazar Black, Wesley Hendrick, and James M. Martin. In the country, not far away, lived William G. Hawkins, Johnson Hendrick, William K. Biggs, William A. Harris,

Simeon P. Robinson, Edward Dorsey and others, all prominent and thrifty farmers.

Those living in the town of Bowling Green made a happy and congenial family. They were cultured people and kept well informed as to happenings in the world, and their homes were open to all the good men and women of the town and surrounding country. They were quick to extend courtesies to strangers, and through these kindnesses I soon became acquainted with every man, woman, and child in the place. It was but a few days after my arrival that I met and became acquainted with Miss Lizzie Chambers Hunt, daughter of Judge Ezra Hunt, who three years later became my wife.

The young men and women of the town and neighborhood made a most charming society. I recall with much pleasure the names of many of themSallie Block, Lizzie Hunt, Nancy and Martha Hawkins, Maggie Blain, Virginia Martin, America Wise, Victoria South, Mary Hendrick, of the young women; and Robert A., Henry C. and James Campbell, William McCormick, James N. Black, George Winn, John W. and Peter Martin, John Edwards, and John W. Hendrick, of the young men.

At the time I entered Colonel Broadhead's office, I was about as poorly prepared as a young fellow could well be, to undertake so important a work as the study of law. My education was only such as I had been able to obtain from country schools and one year at college at St. Charles, together with what I had picked up while teaching the "young idea how to shoot." From the farm in Lincoln County I received enough money to pay my board, which was