18583 Home Life 



congenial task of map drawing, to which I shall 

 again refer. 



Among my youthful treasures was an old bayonet Playing 

 brought back from Vermont by John Jordan from ^^idier 

 the Revolutionary War. Of its previous history I 

 never knew anything more, and I recall nothing of 

 its final fate. But in those days, like other boys, I 

 played at war, making a large collection of spool 

 soldiers with which to supplement my tin armies of 

 Austrians, Sardinians, and French. From deep-cut 

 spools which had carried coarse thread I fashioned 

 my choicest grenadiers; experimenting, I found that 

 they would stand better with the top sawed off, 

 and best of all if the bottom were plugged with 

 lead. Spools with shallow cut for fine thread, being 

 mere infantry, I valued less, and the fatalities 

 among them from pea-shooting artillery were very 

 heavy. 



Out of this early period I recall a long, delightful Along 

 trip with my father, who had to take a load of wheat ^^^^^ 

 to the village of Cuyler on the Genesee Canal in 

 Livingston County. That drive gave us a better 

 opportunity to get acquainted than we had ever 

 had before, and I found him surprisingly interesting 

 and friendly. For he was sensitive and reticent, 

 and left intimate relations mainly to my mother. 

 He was very proud of his children — she knew their 

 inmost feelings. It has seemed to me that the 

 average boy does not understand his father as well 

 as he should, while on the other hand fathers often 

 find it hard to keep in touch with their growing 

 boys. To take a trip together is a fine way of de- 

 veloping comradeship. 



c 15 : 



