36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



The Roberts boys had to have a liberty pole 

 for did we not have a beautiful knoll on which to 

 plant it? We were like the man who purchased a 

 fine door plate at a bargain and had to build a 

 house to use it. We had no trouble to find a nice 

 straight pole in the woods of a size fitted to our 

 boyish energies ; and our pole was never cut nor the 

 halyards molested, for the flag was nailed to the 

 mast. I realize now that when that ash liberty 

 pole was safely planted on that beautiful little hill 

 above the Lake, and the flag of my country was 

 cast floating to the breeze that wafted over Old 

 Cayuga, I had begun to conceive the idea of 

 patriotism, as well as of party prejudice. 



The memories of a somewhat later period which 

 I am about to set down are not so joyous; they fill 

 me rather with penitence and with a belated ap- 

 preciation of my mother's rare patience and kind- 

 ness. Early in her married life my mother began 

 to lay by every year a little money for each of her 

 children; by the time I was about fourteen years 

 old my portion amounted to about $135, which 

 was invested in a promissory note drawing seven 

 per cent simple interest. You can hardly imagine 

 how bold a face it took to ask my mother for $15 

 of this money with which to purchase a skiff. 

 Father's boat had gone to the happy fishing 



