Autobiographical 5 



strange in the fact that I had already, boylike, dreamed 

 of emulating Adams. It is even less strange that that 

 evening I openly declared my resolution. The only 

 strange thing about it is that I never changed my mind. 



In those days, and in that country, fathers had an un- 

 disputed proprietary interest in their children until they 

 came definitely of age. It never occurred to either side 

 to question it, and while, as I grew toward manhood, I 

 found myself more and more seriously determined to go 

 west and become a hunter, I worked steadily on the 

 home farm and at home pursuits till I was twenty-one. 

 Then, since I had no means of my own, I went to 

 Fitchburg, and got work in a machine-shop. I had 

 already, at home, learned blacksmithing; and now, as I 

 had had little opportunity of education, I went to night 

 school. I worked, first and last, all over New England. 

 I was soon getting the highest wages. I was never laid 

 off when there was any work to be done, and whenever 

 a shop closed down at one place, I got a letter of recom- 

 mendation and went to the next town. 



Meanwhile I had not lost sight of my real purpose. I 

 had long owned a tent and a rifle. I had, whenever I 

 could, gone into the woods. I knew well how to fend 

 for myself in the open, and was something of a crack shot 

 both at a mark and at game. 



In 1883 (I was then working in Providence, R. I., for 

 Brown & Sharp), a man came around the country hiring 

 mechanics for a large machine-shop in Melbourne, Aus- 

 tralia. The men, I remember, were to pay their own way 

 out, and if they stayed eighteen months, were to be reim- 

 bursed. It was a far cry from the opportunity I had been 



