FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



BIOGRAPHICAL BOYHOOD DAYS. 



Fifty miles east of Pittsburg lies the little village of 

 Ligonier, Pa., where I was born Jmie 10, 1831. Twenty 

 miles away, across the moimtains, lies the ill-fated city of 

 Johnstown, where my family lived later on. The scenery 

 about Ligonier is of such a charming character that in 

 recent years it has become a summer resort, a branch 

 railroad terminating at that point. Looking down upon 

 the town from the south is a hill so steep that one won- 

 ders how it is possible to cultivate it, while between it and 

 the town flows a little stream called the Loyalhanna, with 

 a milldam upon whose broad bosom I spent many a happy 

 winter hour gliding over the icy surface on the glittering 

 steel ; and in the hot anl lazy summer days, with trouser- 

 legs rolled up to the highest, I waded all abort the dam, 

 the bubbles from its oozy bed running up my legs in a 

 creepy way, while I watched with keen eyes for the 

 "breathing-hole of some snapping turtle hidden beneath 

 the mud, then cautiously felt my way to its tail, lifted it 

 and held it at arm's length for fear of its vicious jaws, 

 and with no little effort carried it snapping and strug- 

 gling to the shore. Ever in sight was the mountain, 

 abounding in chestnuts, rattlesnakes, and huckleberries, 

 and I distinctly recall how strange it seemed, when all 

 was still about me, to hear the roar of the wind in the 

 tree-tops on the mountain eight or ten miles away. 



EARLY EDUCATION. 



My earliest opportunities for education were not of 

 the best. Public schools were not then what they are 



D. H. HILL LIBRARY 



