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In my childhood I was &longs;ent, as
is cu&longs;tomary, to a woman's &longs;chool, in the
&longs;ummer, and to a man's, in the winter
&longs;ea&longs;on, and made great progre&longs;s in &longs;uch
learning as my preceptors dealt in. About
my twelfth year, our mini&longs;ter, who
made it his cu&longs;tom to in&longs;pect the &longs;chools
annually, came to our di&longs;trict. My master,
who looked upon me as his be&longs;t

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scholar, directed me to read a le&longs;&longs;on in Dilworth's
&longs;pelling book, which I recited as
loud as I could &longs;peak, without regard to
empha&longs;is or &longs;tops. This &longs;o plea&longs;ed our
mini&longs;ter, who prided him&longs;elf on the &longs;trength
of his own lungs, that, a &longs;hort time after,
coming to my father's, to dicker, as they
&longs;tiled it, about a &longs;wop of cattle, and not
finding my father &longs;harp at the bargain,
he changed the di&longs;cour&longs;e upon me; observing
how delighted he was with my
performances at &longs;chool. What a pity it
was &longs;uch a genius was not encouraged.
Mr. Underhill, you mu&longs;t put Updike to
learning. My father pleaded poverty.
When I went to Harvard College, replied
the mini&longs;ter, I was poor indeed. I had
no father with a good farm to a&longs;&longs;i&longs;t me;
but, with being butler's fre&longs;hman, and
ringing the bell the fir&longs;t year, waiter the
three la&longs;t, and keeping &longs;chool in the vacations,
I rubbed through, and am now
what I am; and who knows, continued

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he, but when Updike has completed his
education, he may make a mini&longs;ter, and
po&longs;&longs;ibly, when my u&longs;efulne&longs;s is over, supply
our very pulpit.

My mother here interfered. She was
a little &longs;pare woman. My father was a
large bony man; famous, in his youth,
for carrying the ring at wre&longs;tling; and,
in his latter years, for his pre&longs;everance at
town meetings. But, notwith&longs;tanding my
father's &longs;ucce&longs;s in carrying points abroad,
my mother, &longs;ome how or other, contrived
always to carry them at home. My father
never would acknowledge this; but, when
a coar&longs;e neighbour would &longs;ometimes
&longs;lily hint the old adage of the gray mare
being the better hor&longs;e, he would &longs;ay to
his particular friends that he always was
conqueror in his dome&longs;tic warfare: but
would confe&longs;s that he loved quiet, and
was of late tired of perpetually getting the
victory. My mother joined the minister;
ob&longs;erving that Updike &longs;hould have

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learning, though &longs;he worked her hands to
the bone to procure it. She did not doubt,
when he came to preach, he would be as
much run after as the great Mr. Whitfield.
I always thought, continued &longs;he,
the child was a genius; and always intended
he &longs;hould go to college. The boy
loves books. He has read Valentine and
Or&longs;on, and Robin&longs;on Cru&longs;oe. I went,
the other day, three miles to borrow Pilgrim's
Progre&longs;s for him. He has read it
through every bit; ay, and under&longs;tands
it too. Why, he &longs;tuck a &longs;kewer through
Apollyon's eye in the picture, to help
Chri&longs;tian beat him. My father could
not an&longs;wer my mother's argument. The
dicker about the oxen was renewed; and
it was concluded to &longs;wop even, though my
father's were much the likelier cattle, and
that I &longs;hould go that week and &longs;tudy Latin
with the mini&longs;ter, and be fitted for college.

With him I &longs;tudied four years, labouring
ince&longs;&longs;antly at Greek and Latin:

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as to Engli&longs;h grammar, my preceptor,
knowing nothing of it him&longs;elf, could communicate
nothing to me. As he was enthusiastically
attached to the Greek, and
had delivered an oration in that language,
at the commencement at Cambridge, when
he took his fir&longs;t degree, by his direction,
I committed to memory above four hundred
of the mo&longs;t &longs;onorous lines in Homer,
which I was called to repeat before
a number of clergymen, who vi&longs;ited him
at an annual convention, in our pari&longs;h.
The&longs;e gentlemen were ever plea&longs;ed to
expre&longs;s a&longs;toni&longs;hing admiration at my literary
acquirements. One of them prognosticated
that I &longs;hould be a general, from
the fire and force, with which I recited
Homer's battles of the Greeks and Trojans.
Another augered that I &longs;hould be a
member of congre&longs;s, and equal the Adam&longs;es
in oratory, from my repeating the speeches,
at the councils of the heathen gods,
with &longs;uch attention to the cæ&longs;ura. A

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third was &longs;ure that I &longs;hould become a
Wither&longs;poon in divinity, from the pathos,
with which I declaimed Jupiter's &longs;peech
to all the gods. In fine, the&longs;e gentlemen
con&longs;idered the cla&longs;&longs;ics the &longs;ource
of all valuable knowledge. With them
dead languages were more e&longs;timable than
living; and nothing more nece&longs;&longs;ary to
accompli&longs;h a young man for all, that is
profitable and honourable in life, than a
profound knowledge of Homer. One of
them gravely ob&longs;erved that he was &longs;ure
General Wa&longs;hington read Greek; and
that he never would have captured the
He&longs;&longs;ians at Trenton, if he had not taken
his plan of operation from that of Uly&longs;&longs;es
and Diomede &longs;eizing the hor&longs;es of Rhe&longs;us,
as de&longs;cribed in the tenth book of the Iliad.

Thus flattered by the learned, that I
was in the high road to fame, I gulped
down daily portions of Greek, while my
preceptor made quarterly vi&longs;its to my father's
barn yard, for pay for my in&longs;truction.

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In June, one thou&longs;and &longs;even hundred
and eighty, my father began &longs;eriou&longs;ly
to think of &longs;ending me to college.
He called upon a neighbour, to whom he
had &longs;old part of his farm, for &longs;ome ca&longs;h.
His creditor readily paid, the whole &longs;um
due, down in paper money, and my father
found, to his &longs;urprize, that the value of
three acres paid him the principal and interest
of the whole &longs;um, for which he had
&longs;old &longs;eventy five acres of land, five years
before. This was &longs;o &longs;evere a &longs;troke of ill
fortune, that it entirely fru&longs;trated the design
of &longs;ending me to college.

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