268 PSrCHOLOOT. 



ucated ; and I remember distinctly that it was at least two years before 

 this time that I began to ask myself the question as to the origin of the 

 universe. My age was then about eight, not over nine years. 



"Of the form of the earth, I had no idea in my childhood, except 

 that, from a look at a map of the hemispheres, I inferred there were 

 two immense disks of matter lying near each other. I also believed the 

 sun and moon to be round, flat plates of illuminating matter ; and for 

 those luminaries I entertained a sort of reverence on account of their 

 power of lighting and heating the earth. I thought from their coming 

 up and going down, travelling across the sky in so regular a manner 

 that there must be a certain something having power to govern their 

 course. I believed the sun went into a hole at the west and came out 

 of another at the east, travelling through a great tube in the earth, de- 

 scribing the same curve as it seemed to describe in the sky. The stars 

 seemed to me to be tiny lights studded in the sky. 



" The source from which the universe came was the question about 

 which my mind revolved in a vain struggle to grasp it, or rather to 

 fight the way up to attain to a satisfactory answer. When I had occupied 

 myself with this subject a considerable time, I perceived that it was a 

 matter much greater than my mind could comprehend ; and I remem- 

 ber well that I became so appalled at its mystery and so bewildered at 

 my inability to grapple with it that I laid the subject aside and out of 

 my mind, glad to escape being, as it were, drawn into a vortex of inex- 

 tricable confusion. Though I felt relieved at this escape, yet I could not 

 resist the desire to know the truth ; and I returned to the subject ; but 

 as before, I left it, after thinking it over for some time. In this state of 

 perplexity, I hoped all the time to get at the truth, still believing that 

 the more I gave thought to the subject, the more my mind would pene- 

 trate the mystery. Thus I was tossed like a shuttlecock, returning to 

 the subject and recoiling from it, till I came to school. 



" I remember that my mother once told me about a being up above, 

 pointing her finger towards the sky and with a solemn look on her coun- 

 tenance. I do not recall the circumstance which led to this communica- 

 tion. "When she mentioned the mysterious being up in the sky, I was 

 eager to take hold of the subject, and plied her with questions concern- 

 ing the form and appearance of this unknown being, asking if it was 

 the sun, moon, or one of the stars. I knew she meant that there was a 

 living one somewhere up in the sky ; but when I realized that she could 

 not answer my questions, I gave it up in despair, feeling sorrowful that 

 I could not obtain a definite idea of the mysterious living one up in the 

 sky. 



' ' One day, while we were haying in a field, there was a series of heavy 

 thunder-claps. I asked one of my brothers where they came from. He 

 pointed to the sky and made a zigzag motion with his finger, signifying 

 lightning. I imagined there was a great man somewhere in the blue 

 vault, who made a loud noise with his voice out of it ; and each time I 



