lO THE ADVENTURES OF 



ing-book are among the many things of 

 childhood to which memory often reverts, and 

 the mind of the writer loves to look back upon 

 those early times when the log-rollings, the 

 quiltings, the wood-choppings, the camp- 

 meetings, and the thousand and one different 

 occasions of gatherings together of the people. 

 It does seem to me that people were less sel- 

 fish and careless of their neighbors' welfare; 

 they certainly were more kind and friendly 

 then than now. But times and things have 

 changed; the days of the husking-bee, the 

 camp-meeting and the old-fashioned speHing- 

 school have passed away, and everybodv is 

 now on a grand rush to get rich or great. 



Perhaps it was because of the decay of 

 primitive customs, and the change in sur- 

 roundings, coupled with a kind of veneration 

 for things of ye olden times, that caused the 

 writer to grow tired of the new order of things 

 and turn his longing eyes to the West for a 

 repitition of the things of his boyhood. 



Finally, in 1865, this yearning for the joys 

 of the rough and tumble life of the back- 



