io8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



in the world. One Sunday I heard that there was a 

 contractor visiting a neighbor about half a mile 

 down the Lake and I determined to interview him ; 

 but having also heard that he was a hard boss I 

 loitered and debated whether I really wanted a 

 job under him. Just as I came in sight of the 

 neighbor's house I saw the man I had come to see 

 drive away. 



But that proved to be a piece of good fortune 

 for soon afterward I received a letter from Moyer, 

 my old boss, offering me a dollar and a quarter a 

 day and board in Indiana. So I quickly packed all 

 my belongings including my tools, in one trunk, 

 and turning my back on old Cayuga's waters, I 

 travelled westward with the " Star of Empire " to 

 La Porte. I still have a vivid recollection of ar- 

 riving before daylight in that prairie town whose 

 only pavement was sticky mud, on a foggy morn- 

 ing in April. It was not a grown-up man but a 

 tired, sleepy, hungry boy who found his way to the 

 hotel. 



Did you ever arrive at one of those dirty country 

 hotels while every joint was aching from a night's 

 wrestle with a jump-car seat, only to meet a surly 

 porter already half asleep? I must confess that 

 that morning was one of the gloomiest in my life. 



