It was all a fine atmosphere in which to raise a boy. As I look back on it I constantly think how clean it was. There was little about it that was artificial. It was all close to nature and in accordance with the ways of nature. The streams ran clear. The roads, the woods, the fields, the people--all were clean. Even when I try to divest it of the halo which I know always surrounds the past, I am unable to create any other impression than that it was fresh and clean. We had some books, but not many. Mother liked poetry and read some novels. Father had no taste for books, but always took and read a daily paper. My grandfather Moor read books and papers, so that he was a well-informed man. My grandmother Coolidge liked books and besides a daily Chapter in the Bible read aloud to me “The Rangers or the Tory’s Daughter” and “The Green Mountain Boys,” which were both stories of the early settlers of Vermont during the Revolutionary period. She also had two volumes entitled “Washington and His Generals,” and other biographies which I read myself at an early age with a great deal of interest. At home there were numerous law books. In this way I grew up with a working knowledge of the foundations of my state and nation and a taste for history. My education began with a set of blocks which had on them the Roman numerals and the letters of the alphabet. It is not yet finished. As I played with [Illustration: Allison Spence VICTORIA JOSEPHINE (MOOR) COOLIDGE _Mother of Calvin Coolidge, about the time of her marriage_] them and asked my mother what they were, I came to know them all when I was three years old. I started to school when I was five. The little stone school house which had unpainted benches and desks wide enough to seat two was attended by about twenty-five scholars. Few, if any, of my teachers reached the standard now required by all public schools. They qualified by examination before the town superintendent. I first took this examination and passed it at the age of thirteen and my sister Abbie passed it and taught a term of school in a neighboring town when she was twelve years old. My teachers were young women from neighboring communities, except sometimes when a man was employed for the winter term. They were all intelligent, of good character, and interested in their work. I do not feel that the quality of their instruction was in any way inferior. The common school subjects were taught, with grammar and United States history, so that when I was thirteen I had mastered them all and went to Black River Academy, at Ludlow. That was one of the greatest events of my life. The packing and preparation for it required more time and attention than collecting my belongings in preparation for leaving the White House. I counted the hours until it was time to go.