HOW I CAME TO GO WEST 



In the spring of 1854 my first winter of school 

 teaching came to an end. On the evening of the 

 last day a very creditable exhibition of the school's 

 ability to sing and declaim was held in the very 

 hall that I had helped to erect when I was earning 

 money for that dangerous journey which I made 

 to the " Jarsies " (New Jersey) . I was, therefore, 

 out of a job. Why my uncle did not go on adding 

 to his house it was already no feet long so 

 as to give me employment I did not then quite 

 understand, for I looked upon that vigorous, 

 money-making uncle as a great man who when he 

 got started in a big thing never stopped. Mr. 

 Moyer, the boss-carpenter with whom I had 

 worked at uncle's, had gone to La Porte, Indiana, 

 and there was not much building going on in our 

 neighborhood. I was not needed at home on the 

 farm and there was, in short, no work in sight. 



Perhaps I was still a little sore over the month's 

 wages squandered in that joy-ride of the previous 

 winter; at any rate I was restless and unhappy. I 

 could no longer lie on the grass on the lake bank 

 and dream, for I was now a man in the eyes of 

 the law and felt that I must be getting a foothold 



[107] 



