384 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



rubber balls, rubber shoes, and other elastic goods. It 

 was a matter of common belief among the boys that the 

 negro wore gum shoes and that he stepped ten feet at a 

 step with the assistance of the elastic soles. We read the 

 story of the seven league boots after that with a memory 

 recurring to the footrace of that negro for liberty. My 

 sympathies were all with the negro in that race. 



The Ohio River flood of 1852 carried off our little 

 school-house and the next school was kept in the upper 

 story of the jail. The second story was fitted up as a 

 debtor's prison and as arrests for debt were very rare the 

 rooms were occupied for a school and I therefore did some 

 of my earlier studying behind prison bars. 



My little sister, Eliza Adaline, born August 21, 1850, 

 died of whooping cough November 23, 1850. With the ex- 

 ception of this loss I remember no other sorrow in con- 

 nection with New Martinsville. 



I was only twelve years old when we left there, so that 

 the associations of that village are full of the pleasure 

 that makes the happiest of all creatures the lifetime of a 

 boy. The life of a boy is full of interest. As the poet 

 Lilly expresses it, "A wren's egg is as full of meat as a 

 goose's egg, but there is not as much of it." 



I know that these first twelve years of my life were re- 

 plete with abounding health and boyish delights. 



My brothers were Isaac, who was six years older than 

 I, James, three years older, and Will, five years younger. 

 Isaac was by force of family necessity compelled to learn 

 father's trade of brick-mason, stone-mason and plasterer 

 as soon as he was old enough and his opportunities for 

 education were limited. He soon became a good work- 

 man and, if he had a desire for enlarged education, it was 

 suppressed by the hard time of his early life. 



James and myself were students from childhood and I 

 can recall when my mother pasted a pictured sheet on the 



