UNCLE SAM The influence of the place in which I lived began to grow on me.

The warmth of the climate and the clouds of soft and fertile dust were broken by the refreshing rush of water and the clear soft green of leaves.

We had fruit trees of almost every kind, from the peach to the amber cherry, and countless oaks by the side of the river--not large, but most fantastic.

Here I used to sit and wonder, in a foolish, childish way, whether on earth there was any other child so strangely placed as I was.

Of course there were thousands far worse off, more desolate and destitute, but was there any more thickly wrapped in mystery and loneliness?
A wanderer as I had been for years, together with my father, change of place had not supplied the knowledge which flows from lapse of time.
Faith, and warmth, and trust in others had not been dashed out of me by any rude blows of the world, as happens with unlucky children huddled together in large cities.