1809] My Parents 



less than six feet in height, he was spare, wiry, and Hiram 

 very athletic. As a youth he used to be able to 

 clasp his hands and jump through them, a feat I 

 also was once able to perform, but which I have 

 been unable to compass for a good many years back. 

 A clever hunter in his earlier years, Father possessed 

 a large degree of woodcraft, though later in life he 

 refused even to own a gun. With no very marked 

 originality, yet quick to see a point and adopt from 

 others, especially from my mother, he was a keen 

 observer, a man of great energy, and of considerable 

 ability as a speaker. His conception of duty was 

 firm and unflinching; he used no form of alcohol or 

 tobacco, and spent a large part of the latter portion 

 of his life fighting the liquor interests in his county. 

 Having been a strong Abolitionist before the war, 

 he was from the first a vigorous supporter of Lincoln's 

 policies. Active in behalf of all educational move- 

 ments, he served for a long time as trustee of the 

 public school of his district, and as a teacher himself 

 for ten or twelve years was locally noted for skill in 

 instruction and maintenance of order. By religious 

 belief he felt in harmony with Unitarians and Univer- 

 salists alike, becoming finally a pillar of the local Uni- 

 versalist church. Although of a cheerful disposition, 

 he was undemonstrative and often silent for a long 

 time if his feelings had been hurt. He never laughed 

 aloud, so far as I can remember, but for that matter 

 neither have I except in an elephantine way to amuse 

 the children. My fun I always take internally. 



Huldah Lake Hawley, my mother, was born in 

 Whitehall, Washington County, New York, July 9, 

 1812. A woman of large stature and strong, re- J rdan 

 ligious character, though liberal as to details of 



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