Introduction 



bitterest experiences of his life, combined to 

 send him on the long journey recorded in these 

 pages. 



Some autobiographical notes found among 

 his papers furnish interesting additional de- 

 tails about the period between his release from 

 the dark room and his departure for the South. 

 "As soon as I got out into heaven's light/' he 

 says, "I started on another long excursion, 

 making haste with all my heart to store my 

 mind with the Lord's beauty, and thus be ready 

 for any fate, light or dark. And it was from 

 this time that my long, continuous wanderings 

 may be said to have fairly commenced. I bade 

 adieu to mechanical inventions, determined to 

 devote the rest of my life to the study of the 

 inventions of God. I first went home to Wis- 

 consin, botanizing by the way, to take leave of 

 my father and mother, brothers and sisters, all 

 of whom were still living near Portage. I also 

 visited the neighbors I had known as a boy, 

 renewed my acquaintance with them after an 

 absence of several years, and bade each a formal 

 [ xvi 1 



