30 TEACHING SCHOOL— STUDYING BOTANY 



a "good boy," but did not go to Sunday School so far as I can 

 remember. I made excuses which were really lies, told the truth 

 when a lie would have been dishonorable, never went back on my 

 word and hence was called "good," without having any of the 

 characteristics that "good boys" are supposed to have now. I 

 never swore; I never smoked but once; would not play with bad 

 boys; read the Bible; believed in God, but all the time was a 

 young heathen. Without any idea beyond the enjoyment of the 

 present, I was confirmed in church and passed much better than 

 any of the others, but still I was in the dark about religion, al- 

 though I was always correcting my playmates in such things. 

 I remember telling one boy that if he swore he would never get to 

 heaven and he answered at once: "I guess I have as good a chance 

 as Jock Osle." This man we boys used to call "Curse the World." 

 He never spoke but that he swore. 



These, then, were my opinions and actions before I was nine- 

 teen. When I came to Canada, a new world opened up before me 

 and of course new ideas were added to many of those I brought 

 from Ireland. I found that truth and honor were scarcer in 

 Canada than in Ireland and many wore the cloak of religion that 

 had not the remotest idea of the character of what they claimed 

 to know. We were located in the country where there were no 

 churches except Methodist and Bible Christians. There were 

 three different shows, running against each other, and we boys and 

 girls patronized each one whenever it suited us. My seven years 

 in the country brought many new ideas abput things, both spiritual 

 and temporal. We attended church and all the protracted meet- 

 ings that were held in the churches during the winter months, 

 which an irreverant man of my acquaintance told me were held 

 to make over the members each year. I remember well one pro- 

 tracted meeting that was being held and a number of young men 

 who were attending "Bees" went nearly every night and one or 

 two would be converted occasionally. One afternoon a young 

 man, named William Henry Graham, told us jokingly that he was 

 going down to the school house and intended to be "converted" 

 that night. He went and, sure enough, he was converted, went and 

 studied for a preacher, and in a short time had a church of his 



