1 8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



my riches to advantage led me to seek some 

 profitable investment which would increase my 

 wealth. My earliest speculation was the pur- 

 chase of a gun ; but after the first pleasure of 

 its possession had passed, I saw my mistake in 

 having expended money for something that 

 would yield me no increase, and began to look 

 around for an opportunity to retrieve my error. 

 Soon a chance occurred for me to trade the gun 

 off for a cow. I saw there was "money in it," 

 and closed the bargain, thus turning my first 

 mistake into a profitable investment. Having 

 become the owner of a cow, my ambition was 

 awakened to increase my stock, and I kept my 

 attention fixed in that direction until I was the 

 sole proprietor of three cows. I had now en- 

 tered on my fifteenth year, and having learned 

 one day. in conversing with my father, that his 

 intention was soon to sell his farm and stock, 

 and remove to the Far West, I proposed to him 

 to allow me to carve my own way in the world. 

 I felt ambitious to strike out for myself, and 

 " paddle my own canoe." To this my father con- 



