I was not willing to suppose myself such a thing as that, an idiot, strong enough to stand up and be shot at, and with only brains enough to pull a trigger when told to do so to kill somebody. If I was to be such a soldier, then God, who created me with a mind capable of thinking and reasoning; Mr. Percy, in giving me an education; and I, in acquiring it, we all three had sadly muddled the business and made a damnable mistake somehow. So my warfare ended. I then thought of the police service, but this was so like a twin brother to soldiering that I dropped it quickly. I was in no great hurry to choose a profession, as I was not obliged to work for a living, but considered it my duty, as well as pleasure, to seek to do what was best, so I went to the station where my property was situated, and found a home in one of the houses with an excellent family, one of my tenants. I had plenty of books, the gifts of Mr. Percy, each of them a true indication of his style of thought and belief. I ordered others, such as I considered would interest me. With them I lived. They were my best and most intimate companions. I have often thought that if I were cast away on some desert island, and had plenty of books, I could not be alone. The middle part of each day I spent in reading; mornings and evenings in adorning the compounds and gardens of my several houses with fruit and fine trees, flower plants and shrubbery. I soon made a great change in the places, to the great satisfaction of my tenants. This gave me a great liking for botany, as I had scarcely heard of such a science in school, for there we were so much driven to study men’s rules and theories that we had no time to study what God had created. This employment finished, I became restless with a desire to enter upon some profession or business for life. I thought of commercial business, and from what I knew of it I supposed it would give me a chance to use my brains; but I had no more idea of what it required than if I was the son of a lord. I knew nothing of book-keeping, for this was another of the practical things omitted in our school, and it sometimes puzzled me to see what I really had learned that was to be of practical use to me. If it be true, as some one has said, that the greatest knowledge is to realize how little we know, I concluded that I had reached that happy condition. It is true that I practiced a little book-keeping as required by Mr. Percy, but it was single entry, or rather two entries, cash received and cash paid out, and every pice I handled was in that account. Since then my acquaintance with even commercial men has led me to believe that single entry book-keeping is not a slight affair, for some forget to enter what you have paid them, and remember to enter what they did not pay you.