to retrace their steps and replace the apples, and thus run the risk of meeting the Indians. Such a requirement in a parent or guardian in our day would have been viewed by most persons as a cruel exposure of the life of a child. But in those days children were taught elevated views of morality, and the slightest approach to theft or falsehood was most promptly punished. The effect upon the mind of my mother of this severe test of her courage and obedience was most beneficial, and she often alluded to the incident in her family as exerting a happy influence on her character in all subsequent life. My father, Andrew Hutchison, the second son of my grandfather, was a man of fine personal appearance, of medium size, of great muscular activity, and was very popular in his neighborhood. Possessing a better education than most other young men of his day, his services were in great demand as a surveyor, a writer of deeds, letters, etc. His earlier days were spent in attending the mills of his father and uncle, and towards manhood he was engaged in teaching school. He married young and settled on a small farm adjoining that of my grandfather. In 1813 he was chosen colonel of a regiment of militia which was ordered to the northern frontier to engage in the war with Great Britain. Though but six years old at the time, I remember every important event that occurred-the frequent mustering of the militia, my father's gay military dress, the patriotic songs, and many other thrilling incidents of a time of war. At last, my father's departure for Black Rock, my mother's tears, and the adieus of friends are all remembered. Equally well do I remember my father's return in a short time-his illness, his death, in dead of winter, amid the deep snow, the grave (the first I had ever seen), and the painful impression I long enter tained of his confinement in the cold ground. The first dead man I ever saw was my father. After my father's death my mother continued to reside on the same farm, and support and educate her family of five children, the eldest of whom was ten years old. She was a woman of remarkable energy of character. At this distant day, her many virtues, rendered prominent by her heroic struggles with comparative poverty, stand out before my mind in bold relief. She was a woman of great decision of character, and in great demand as a counselor in the neighborhood. After my father's death (who was a professor of religion and maintained family worship) my mother continued the practice of praying in her family, and maintained it while she lived. She labored faithfully, and often with tears, to impress upon the minds of her children the importance of youthful piety. My earliest and most important religious impressions were produced by her instructions and prayers. She was firm but tender in domestic discipline, often weeping when using the rod, mingling tears with correction. Precious is the memory of my mother. In recalling the scenes and incidents of my childhood, I wish here to record my unbounded admiration of the character of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who were the principal settlers of the middle counties of Pennsylvania, and of many other States of the Union. Much has been said, and with justice, of the noble characte of the Puritans, the Huguenots, and cavaliers. But the influence which has been exerted upon the nation by the Scotch-Irish element, spread out as it now is throughout Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, the Carolinas, New York, Eastern Mississippi, and all the Western States, can never be fully appreciated. I glory in my descent from such a noble stock. My impression also is that much more information was communicated, when I was young, by oral instruction, than at the present time. Old people rehearsed by the fireside the incidents of their early days and what they had heard from their fathers, and the young were eager listeners. Though books and newspapers and traveling afford greater means of imparting knowledge now than then, yet I doubt whether youth are better taught in useful things, or have the more important faculties both of mind and heart better developed at the present day than formerly. My mother died when I was eight years old. My mother, when I learned that thou wast dead, Wretch, even then, life's journey just begun ?" Immediately after the death of my mother, our family (five in number) were scattered among our relatives. I became a member of the family of my uncle, the Rev. John Hutchison, of Mifflintown, Juniata County (Pennsylvania). He was the only full brother of my father, by whom I was adopted and educated. He was a superior man in almost every respect. He graduated at Dickinson College (Pennsylvania), under the presidency of the celebrated Dr. Nesbitt. In 1805 he assumed the pastoral charge of the churches of Mifflintown and Lost Creek, where he continued to labor until his death, which took place on the 11th of November, 1844, having retained the charge of the same churches for thirtynine years. Few ministers of the Gospel in Central Pennsylvania have lived more honored and died more lamented than he. He was a man of great purity and simplicity-an entertaining companion, a firm friend, a wise counselor, a patient endurer of reproach, and a fearless defender of the faith. He seemed to have pos sessed an intuitive knowledge of human nature. The motives of men seemed to reveal themselves at once to his view. He was the last man on whom any one could palm an imposition. He was also famed throughout the country for great neatness and system in all the ordinary affairs of life. His house, his apparel, his domestic economy, his traveling equipage, were all expressive of the order and native sense of propriety which characterized him. His attainments as a scholar and theologian were of a highly respectable order, and for many years he was a prominent member of Huntington Presbytery. Like many of the Presbyterian clergymen of the Northern States, he devoted much of his time and attention to classical studies. His academy was known for more than thirty years as the best in all Central Pennsylvania, and his Latin and Greek scholars always took a high position upon entering any of the colleges of the State. A large number of the professional men in the middle counties of Pennsylvania were trained under his tuition. At the age of thirteen I commenced the study of the Latin and Greek languages. When I arrived at the age of seventeen I became his assistant, and thus secured the means of finishing my college course. I thus had an opportunity of attaining a degree of accuracy in classical studies. which has proved of essential advantage to me in all my subsequent life. I would here remark that, after having been for a long time professor of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, it is my opinion that better classical scholars were made fifty years ago than now. Several causes may be assigned for the présent degeneracy: First. In the present day boys are taught too many things in connection with languages. Second. The many new grammars and new editions of the classics, with their various helps, explanations, and English notes, are no real improvement on the old ones. These modern helps to study prevent study. Third. Teachers have degenerated. Now, our teachers are young men, nice young men, possessed of great self-esteem, intending to study law or medicine, and making teaching only a steppingstone to something else. In my early day, teachers were usually Presbyterian ministers, or candidates for the ministry, who loved to teach, who knew how to teach, and who had a reputation to sustain. Fourth. Boys in the present day are more difficult to be taught than formerly. They are not taught as much at home as in former years. Especially, their memories are not drilled, as they once were, by committing to memory the General Assembly's shorter catechism. Consequently, they are not so capable of committing with accuracy the Latin and Greek grammars. I have always noticed that the sons of old-fashioned Presbyterians usually make the best classical scholars. Their superior religious training renders them more susceptible of a thorough classical training. From these and other considerations, I am more and more convinced that if we would have better scholarship in our colleges, we must have our youth prepared, not in preparatory schools, but by the pastors of our churches, or in parochial schools under their care. I resided in Mifflintown from 1815 to 1824. Those years constitute the most important period of my life. I can now trace back almost all my habits and my peculiarities of character to that period. My residence in my uncle's family imposed upon me the duty of work as well as of study. Gardening, the providing of firewood in winter, the care of horses, cows, etc., were, fortunately for me, combined with intellectual culture, thus giving the best means of developing the powers |