10 Edzvard Livingston Youmans, 



quite admit his claim concerning the sacredness of his 

 chosen work, and if they were unable fully to appre- 

 ciate its extent and importance, they could well under- 

 stand the singleness of purpose with which it was pur- 

 sued, and the lofty moral qualities which it revealed 

 from day to day. 



To the religious experiences of the family we shall 

 have occasion to return. At present we are concerned 

 with the circumstances of Edward's childhood. When 

 he was a babe of six months his parents removed from 

 Coeymans to the town of Greenfield, in Saratoga 

 County, finding a home three miles west of Saratoga 

 Springs, at the Four Corners, where for half a century 

 there had stood a Congregationalist meeting-house, a 

 district schoolhouse, a store, and tv/o or three dwell- 

 ings. On one of the corners was a little estate of three 

 acres, with its comfortable house, where Vincent You- 

 mans set up his wagon shop and smithy, and for a short 

 time kept a tavern. The situation was favourable for 

 thirsty customers at election times and when law- 

 suits were in progress, but this source of income was 

 soon abandoned. The first temperance society es- 

 tablished in the United States whose members were 

 required to sign a pledge to abstain from intoxicating 

 liquors was organized by the pastor of the neighbour- 

 ing Congregational church, and within its walls the so- 

 ciety still holds its regular meetings. One Sunday 

 his pastor preached so moving a sermon on the evils 

 of intemperance, that next morning Vincent Youmans 

 pulled down his tavern sign, spilled the contents of 

 his kegs and bottles on the ground, and never dealt in 

 liquor again. 



His neighbours, mainly farmers, were chiefly of 

 Connecticut stock. On soil none too generous, many 



