6 JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 



some entertaining volume. John was quick to follow his example. 

 His wagon-box became a receptacle for books, and while his read- 

 ing was desultory, it was nevertheless valuable. Histories and 

 biographies pleased him the most. On these trips he re-read 

 Hume's History of England, Gibbon's Rome, a history of the 

 United States, and finally Dick's philosophy and some works in 

 - Mental Philosophy. He never read a work of fiction or a volume 

 of poetry, although his mother had frequently urged him to read 

 Milton. Now he became interested in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, 

 and no matter what other books he selected for companions on 

 these long journeys, that one was sure to be found in his wagon- 

 box, for he could read it when he was tired of all others. He 

 never, by the way, considered Bunyan a work of fiction. 



In the winter of 1850, when he was sixteen years old, his dis- 

 content with farm work impelled him to leave home, and he went 

 to Janesville, determined to attend school. Janesville was about 

 twenty miles distant, and he walked the first day to a farmhouse 

 within about two miles of the town. He had but a few cents in 

 his pocket, and stopping at the farmhouse to stay over night, he 

 asked for work. The farmer engaged him for two we^eks, and at 

 the end of that time, with six dollars in his pocket, John proceeded 

 to Janesville and visited the school. He returned to the outskirts 

 of the town and made arrangements with a farmer to work nights 

 and mornings for his board, stipulating that he should have his 

 time during school hours for study. 



The family lived in a log house. John's business was to feed 

 and water the cattle and sheep, and to care for them generally ; 

 and, at night, after his work was done in the farmyard, he sat by 

 the chimney- side rocking the cradle and studying his books by the 

 fire-light as best he could. The next year Joseph Powell sold the 

 farm at South Grove and moved to another on Bonus Prairie, in 

 Boone county, Illinois. 



In the fall of 1852, when John was eighteen, it was decided by 

 his mother that he should commence his school life. The first thing 

 to be done was to earn the necessary money. Early in the month 

 of October he put the farm in as good shape as possible and turned 

 it over to his younger brother, W. B. Powell, and commenced 

 studying at home. For six weeks his school was in the garret, 

 where he remained almost day and night, studying grammar, arith 

 metic, and geography. He then set out for the southern part of 

 Wisconsin, about thirty miles distant, and had no difficulty in se- 

 curing engagement as a teacher. The school engaged, the next 



