Part of the time up to April, 1827, he remained at home, {23} and part of the time he was engaged in working for other people. At that time he was twenty years of age and left his home never to return except as a visitor. He first went to live with his Aunt Helen Wheeler. He took her flour mill at East Avon on shares and worked it for three years. During that time he established himself in the trade of a miller. Notwithstanding his youth at the time of leaving home, his soul was full of deep and serious thoughts. They were ennobling in their character and safeguarded the young man along the slippery paths of youth. Here are some of the reflections of those days: "This is an important period of my life. As I leave my father's home to enter upon the stage of life to act for myself, to be my own counselor, and to form my own character in the broad open world, my mind is filled with serious reflections. I am full of anxiety--an anxiety which is painful to me. Should I outlive my parents, how long will it be before I shall follow them to the grave? It will be said of them: 'They have gone the way of all flesh and their children will follow them into the same eternal world.' My age is an important period in the life of every man; for, generally speaking, at this period of life man forms much of his character for time and eternity. How cautious I ought to be in passing this landmark along the road of my early existence! I feel that I need care, prudence, circumspection, and wisdom to guide my footsteps in the path which leads to honor and eternal life." Later on, referring to this same period of life, he says: "I reflected further upon the days of my youth which were gone, and upon the fleetness of time that had flown like an arrow to return no more. I reasoned thus: while walking through a rapid stream, we cannot tread twice in the same water, neither can we twice spend the same time. Then how ought we to prize the golden moments and measure time by our talents to the honor and glory of God and for the salvation of our souls; so that when the Lord comes, He may receive His own with usury. "In trying to comprehend the fleetness of time, I have asked myself these questions. Where is the old world? Where are the millions of the earth's inhabitants, including my own ancestors? And where are the days of my youth? They are gone--all {24} gone into the boundless ocean of eternity where I shall soon find myself." This remarkable state of his mind at that youthful period of life is so unusual in young men of that age that it is quite reasonable to suppose that he was undergoing a mental struggle on questions of right and wrong. It was not simply with him a question of good and bad; has conscience told him what his conduct ought to be in the presence of temptation. What he wanted to know, what he was yearning to learn was some positive rule of life that would govern and guide him in the formation of correct religious doctrines.