That handful of overwise old gentlemen kept on shaking their heads all the first week, and saying they had seen no marvels there that could not have been produced by collusion; and they were pretty vain of their unbelief, too, and liked to show it and air it, and be superior to the ignorant and the gullible.

Particularly old Dr.
Peake, who was the ringleader of the irreconcilables, and very formidable; for he was an F.F.V., he was learned, white-haired and venerable, nobly and richly clad in the fashions of an earlier and a courtlier day, he was large and stately, and he not only seemed wise, but was what he seemed, in that regard.

He had great influence, and his opinion upon any matter was worth much more than that of any other person in the community.

When I conquered him, at last, I knew I was undisputed master of the field; and now, after more than fifty years, I acknowledge, with a few dry old tears, that I rejoiced without shame.
[Sidenote: (1847.)] [_Dictated December 2, 1906._] In 1847 we were living in a large white house on the corner of Hill and Main Streets--a house that still stands, but isn't large now, although it hasn't lost a plank; I saw it a year ago and noticed that shrinkage.

My father died in it in March of the year mentioned, but our family did not move out of it until some months afterward.