38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



push the boat by swimming with our feet while 

 holding on with our hands. After we were thus 

 prepared for squalls by becoming expert upsetters, 

 I put in the sails which were destined to give my 

 mother many an anxious hour. In spite of her ex- 

 postulation I went out, at first in light wind and 

 near shore, and then in rougher weather, thus 

 putting in practice the advice of the old rhyme : 



" Little boats should keep near shore 

 Larger ones may venture more." 



But just when I was sure that I had become an 

 experienced sailor the west wind one day laid the 

 little craft on her larboard gunnel and I had all 

 I could do to save myself from drowning. My 

 mother, I think, was never quite easy when I was 

 out in this " tippy " boat and I now realize that I 

 was a most inconsiderate son in that I kept her in 

 a state of constant anxiety. She never forbade 

 me to sail, however, being one of those wise 

 mothers who govern not by edicts but by love. 



I have related these particular incidents of my 

 boyhood because they stand out most vividly ; but 

 as I look back I think that I was a boy of " inci- 

 dences," even more than others. I have often 

 studied the problem as to how much liberty and 



