Our home became headquarters for my young companions.

My mother was always looking to home influences as the best means of keeping her two boys in the right path.

She used to say that the first step in this direction was to make home pleasant; and there was nothing she and my father would not do to please us and the neighbors' children who centered about us.
My first business venture was securing my companions' services for a season as an employer, the compensation being that the young rabbits, when such came, should be named after them.

The Saturday holiday was generally spent by my flock in gathering food for the rabbits.

My conscience reproves me to-day, looking back, when I think of the hard bargain I drove with my young playmates, many of whom were content to gather dandelions and clover for a whole season with me, conditioned upon this unique reward--the poorest return ever made to labor.