1 1 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



train for La Porte. But unfortunately, the only 

 train by which I could reach La Porte before mid- 

 night had already passed and I was obliged to stay 

 there. A raging fever and a bed already occupied 

 by one or two specious of indigenous fauna were 

 not conducive to sleep. The next day I found a 

 sunny place in a little wood adjoining where I did 

 get a few fitful naps and at last, on Monday morn- 

 ing, having virtually neither slept nor eaten for 

 thirty-eight hours, I reached La Porte in a desper- 

 ate state ! By accident I met Colonel Place's wife 

 at the station and when she saw how sick I was 

 she insisted that I must go home with her and be 

 cared for. I felt hardly fit to sleep in a stable and 

 the thought of contaminating one of her immacu- 

 late beds was worse even than the ague, but she 

 compelled me to yield. In about two weeks I re- 

 turned to Hog Prairie and remained well until the 

 house was completed. 



That first fall in Indiana was a severe test of my 

 courage and endurance. I was often tempted to 

 go back to the old home in New York where I 

 would have been most warmly welcomed but I am 

 thankful that I did not go for the fates were kinder 

 the longer I stayed. Somehow it seems to do boys 

 good to pitch them out of the home nest when they 



