In those times it was thought no evil to indulge in card playing and pastimes of a similar character. He occasionally took a hand in these games, but soon withdrew from such recreation, since he believed card playing to be a vice. His journal shows that he understood the dangers that arise from the so-called respectability of companionship when such companions are thoughtless, indifferent, and self-indulgent. "The religious influence of such men," he writes, "where it is bad is most to be dreaded. The vulgar and dissipated will not have much influence over the man who intends to maintain a fair standing in society. On the other hand, the respectable man may lead him step by step into such evils that bring upon him, before he is aware of it, sorrow, disgrace, misery, and shame. "If I was ever led to stake anything at the card table, I had the providential good fortune to lose. There was thus cut off the natural encouragement to engage in such a vice. In all these recreations there was a spirit working within me which drew my attention to inner thoughts of a nobler sort until I lost all desire for cards and the ball room and for the company of those who enjoyed that kind of pleasure. So much was this the case, that I felt like a speckled bird in the midst of my companions. Indeed, I learned by experience and by the workings of the spirit of the Lord within my own soul that the transitory pleasures of human life do not in any way constitute true and lasting happiness." Before launching out in business for himself, he says: "I had not acquired much taste for reading. Having at my disposal each day several leisure hours, I felt impressed that I must not {25} squander time in idleness. I did not care for novel reading. I believed it to be useless. Nor had I much taste for history, having read but little of it. One day while reading a school book, I came across these remarkable words: 'He that will spend his life in that manner which is most exaltant will find that custom will render it most delightsome.'" These words made a strong impression upon his mind. He at once began to read history. At first he read too much at a time to remember, to digest, and to profit by it. After a judicious regulation of this mental pastime, he read carefully histories of the United States, England, Scotland, Greece, and Rome. He read Rollin's Ancient History, Josephus, and other books. They became to him a delight, and from them he gained much that was helpful.