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there attended another country school taught by "old John Williams." Subsequently I remained at this sister's house and went to another country school taught by one Thomas Williams, but of no kin to the ancient John.

In September, 1855, I went to the Saint Charles College and remained a school year. This college was the most pretentious school in that part of the State. Dr. Anderson, a Southern Methodist preacher, was the President. He had with him in the faculty, four or five teachers of good attainments. The students attending the college the year I was there numbered more than a hundred. Among them were E. Spruel Bufort, John Pittman, John C. Orrick, Theoderick McDearmon, John and William Bull, John Cunningham, Norman Davis, Joseph Dyson, 'Joseph and John Wherry, and others whose names for the moment escape me.

The term was fairly successful so far as advancement in studies was concerned. At the expiration of the term I returned to my home in Lincoln County and at the age of eighteen applied for and obtained employment to teach school in the same district that was first in charge of my old teacher, John M. Faulconer. One of the school trustees was William Schaper, who was my warm and steadfast friend. The term was for three months at a salary of twenty dollars per month. At the expiration of the term I was employed at a salary of forty dollars to teach a district school in Warren County. In that and the adjoining district I taught for nine months, which together with the three months in Lincoln County made one year of school teaching for me. During the last few months of that time I engaged in reading, at

night and other convenient moments, Blackstone and Kent's Commentaries, borrowed from A. V. McKee, a lawyer of Troy, who was also school commissioner for the County, and who gave me my first certificate to teach school.

In one of the last-mentioned districts, a man by the name of Willis Jones (elsewhere mentioned as a Baptist preacher) was one of the three school trustees. He was a good-meaning man but densely ignorant. It was customary on Friday afternoon of each week, for the patrons of the school to come in and hear their children recite. On one occasion Mr. Jones was among the visitors. As it happened, I was hearing a class in geography. The chief point in the examination was as to the rotundity of the earth and of its turning on its axis every twenty-four hours. In the midst of my effort to fully explain to the class, I was interrupted by Mr. Jones, who disputed the correctness of what I was saying. With much warmth he stated that if the world moved as I had indicated, all streams would run the wrong way, etc., that his position was not only sustained by that of common-sense, but fully by the Bible. "The sun, and not the world, moves," he said, "Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and therefore it was the sun, and not the world, that was moving."

I was not very well versed in the teachings of the Bible, and for a moment I was at a great disadvantage. However, I recovered myself, and said, "Mr. Jones, I believe you are correct and that Joshua did command the sun to stand still, but can you point to me any chapter in the Bible where he ever commanded it to start again?" The old fellow scratched his head

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.

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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

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