94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



year but one my uncle gave me $i per day to 

 work at repairing buildings on his son's farm. 

 The older children in our family did not have to 

 work so hard as I did to get an education, for they 

 went to school when the household was more pros- 

 perous. While I was growing up there were sev- 

 eral serious illnesses in the family and there was 

 less money to spend for other purposes. One of 

 these occurred just as I was about ready to go to 

 the Academy, and prevented me from getting any 

 more formal education. 



When I was about sixteen or seventeen years old 

 I was possessed with a desire to visit my Grand- 

 father Roberts, then nearly eighty years of age, 

 and the other relatives living near Trenton, New 

 Jersey. After urging the matter upon my mother 

 several times, she finally said: " Child, you know 

 we haven't the money to spare." That seemed to 

 shatter all my hopes; but not long afterward I 

 asked: "Well, may I go if I can earn the 

 money? " And she replied with a smile : " Why, 

 yes, I think so." In the modern slang, it was now 

 " up to me." Immediately I made diligent inquiry 

 for carpenter work; and soon learned that an as- 

 sembly hall an extension to a hotel was to be 



