HIS BOYHOOD. 
19 
himself, as far as his business occupations would 
permit, of every opportunity he could seize to fit him- 
self for future usefulness. 
Before closing this chapter it should be stated that, 
in his fourteenth year, he was called to sustain the 
heaviest sorrow which boyhood can experience ; his 
mother, who for years had been in delicate health, 
being removed by death. Her memory he ever felt 
he had more than sufficient reason to cherish with 
the tenderest affection. 
