![]() ![]() ![]() My father intended that my knowledge should keep pace with that of my brother, but conceived that all beyond the mere capacity to write and read was useless or pernicious. My senses were perpetually alive to novelty, my fancy teemed with visions of the future, and my attention fastened upon every thing mysterious or unknown. The more I heard or read, the more restless and unconquerable my curiosity became. My thirst of knowledge was augmented in proportion as it was supplied with gratification. The limits of his acquirements consisted in signing his name, and spelling out a chapter in the bible. He was diligent, as long as fear urged him forward, but his exertions ceased with the cessation of this motive. He could read and write, because he had no alternative between learning the lesson prescribed to him, and punishment. His ideas never ranged beyond the sphere of his vision, or suggested the possibility that to-morrow could differ from to-day. His wishes never led him astray from the hay-stack and the furrow. ![]() My eldest brother seemed fitted by nature for the employment to which he was destined. I was the second son of a farmer, whose place of residence was a western district of Pennsylvania. ![]()
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