When I was yet very young, they thought that I was distinguished from other children by a _penchant_ for suddenly and secretly absenting myself from those, whose duty it was to be acquainted with my whereabouts. I often ran away from home to find playmates; and ran away from school to avoid the trouble of learning my lessons. At this time of life, so strong was my propensity for escaping from any scene I did not like, and betaking myself to such as I deemed more congenial to my tastes, that I obtained the soubriquet of _The Rolling Stone_. Whenever I would be missing from home, the inquiry would be made, "Where is that Rolling Stone?" and this inquiry being often put in the school I attended, the phrase was also applied to me there. In short it became my "nickname." Perhaps I was a little vain of the appellation: for I certainly did not try to win another, but, on the contrary, did much to convince everybody, that the title thus extended to me was perfectly appropriate. My father's family consisted of my parents, a brother, one year and a half younger than myself, and a sister, about two years younger still. We were not an unhappy family. The little domestic cares, such as all must share, only strengthened the desire for existence--in order that they might be overcome. My father was a man without many friends, and with fewer enemies, for he was a person who attended to his own business, and said but little to any one. He had a talent for silence; and had the good sense not to neglect the exercise of it--as many do the best gifts Nature has bestowed upon them. He died when I was about thirteen years old; and, as soon as he was gone from us, sorrow and misfortune began for the first time to show themselves in our house. There are many families to whom the loss of a parent may be no great calamity; but ours was not one of them; and, young as I was at the time, I had the sense to know that thenceforward I should have to war with the world alone. I had no confidence in my mother's ability to provide for her children, and saw that, by the death of my father, I was at once elevated from the condition of a child to that of a man. After his decease, the work in the shop was carried on by a young man named Leary--a journeyman saddler, who had worked with my father for more than a year previous to his death. I was taken from school, and put to work with Mr Leary who undertook to instruct me in the trade of a harness-maker. I may say that the man displayed considerable patience in trying to teach me. He also assisted my mother with his counsel--which seemed guided by a genuine regard for our interests. He managed the business in the shop, in what appeared to be the best manner possible; and the profits of his labour were punctually handed over to my mother.