28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND 



However, the year 1843 began under a more auspi- 

 cious sky. We had had hard times. From that day 

 we went "pianissimo" but we never retrograded. 

 Some " cryptogamic " ties held us, held us to our de- 

 termination to swim or sink together, and we did so 

 for fifty years. We swam in a lake of bliss ! ! That 

 lake had become an ocean when a cyclone rent our 



blessedness ! forever . The years 1843, '44, 45' 



and '46 passed off with very little progress, except in 

 the double line of propagation in the vegetable and 

 the animal kingdoms. But we had got possession of 

 a better and cheaper location, 300 or 400 yards from 

 where we were, we had purchased four acres of land, 

 built a house, etc., where we moved on the 1st of 

 April, 1847. We were proprietors (in parte) and we 

 were on the way to improvement. Plenty of elbow 

 room to apply my device " Help thyself and God will 

 help thee," and I was cheerfully willing to put the 

 theory into practice to work, work more and to pray 

 together. As I have said above, our double line of 

 propagation required more energy on my part, as my 

 helpmate could not much longer substitute musical 

 notes for the missing rose buds. I could sufficiently 

 (with elbow and brain oil) do it myself. 



At that juncture a slight fever broke out among the 

 community of Albany and Troy for hardy perennial 



