There was no thought in my mind of any good to come out of it; the good lay in the reading.

I had no more idea of being a minister than you elder men who were boys then, in this town, had that I should be here to-night to tell this story.

Now, give a boy a passion like this for anything, books or business, painting or farming, mechanism or music, and you give him thereby a lever to lift his world, and a patent of nobility, if the thing he does is noble.

There were two or three of my mind about books.

We became companions, and gave the roughs a wide berth.