Autobiographical Passages 47 



fed them by the roadside, my father, brother and I would 

 often wander far looking for a bathing place and an addition 

 of fresh wild berries for the picnic dinner which my mother 

 would have set out in some well-selected shady place. 



I had also before I was twelve traveled much with my 

 father and mother by stage coach, canal and steamboat, 

 visiting West Point, Trenton Falls, Niagara, Quebec, Lake 

 George. 



I recollect less of any enjoyment I may then have had 

 than of my impression of the enjoyment my father and 

 mother constantly found in scenery. Yet they could have 

 talked little of it, both being of silent habits; and I am sure 

 that they did not analyze, compare and criticise. 



These reflections rise naturally when I review the condi- 

 tions of my education, for although I was much separated 

 from my father and few men have less aptness, inclination or 

 ability than he had to give oral instruction, I see that the 

 unpremeditated and insensible influence which came to me 

 from him was probably the strongest element in my training. 

 I see also that my father may have unwittingly disclosed to 

 me more of his nature than to any one else. One of two or 

 three incidents that remain in my mind will show what I 

 mean. On a Sunday evening we were crossing the meadows 

 alone. I was tired and he had taken me in his arms. I soon 

 noticed that he was inattentive to my prattle and looking in 

 his face saw in it something unusual. Following the direction 

 of his eyes, I said : ' ' Oh ! there's a star. ' ' Then he said some- 

 thing of Infinite Love with a tone and manner which really 

 moved me, chick that I was, so much that it has ever since 

 remained in my heart. t 



Brought up in a superstitious faith in preaching and 

 didactic instruction, and knowing how little he could by 

 deliberate purpose do for me in that way, my father's affec- 

 tion and desire to "do right by the boy" made him always 

 eager to devolve as much as practicable of the responsibility 

 of my education upon ministers. 



