When I was about four years old my father sold the small farm in Swanzey where I was born and in the fall of that year removed his family into the neighborhood of the Second Baptist church of Colerain, Mass. To this church he preached in a school house for two or three years, without pecuniary compensation; in a community so ungodly that the part of the township in which it was situated, acquired in derision, the name of "Christian Hill" by which name it is known, I think, to the present day. The people were largely of Irish descent, and drunkenness was the prevalent vice. My father became unpopular with the people by his stanch teetotalism long before the temperance reform commenced in this country; and besides he sustained the government in those measures which led to the War of 1812 and was called a Democrat, while nearly all the community about him were Federalists. Under these circumstances he resigned, discouraged and very seldom preached again for eight or ten years. This was a dark period in the history of our family. We were in the country, were poor, remote from school and the children with whom we must associate were profane and wicked. But our home was pure, and I never heard a profane word used by one of our family. The religion of the ten commandments was early enjoined upon us and the terrible consequences of the violation of any of them, was early impressed upon us. As I have said we were remote from school, and the schools which were in session five or six months in the year, were at best poor; so that our early education was sadly deficient.Though I attended school more or less every year after I was four years old, yet when ten years old I could scarcely read intelligibly in easy reading and had been taught in no other branches of study. My slowness in learning to read, was, I think, mainly due to the total want of reading matter adapted to interest children.

But we were taught habits of industry, frugality and self-reliance. When six years old I was often sent on horseback two or three miles from home, on errands over steep hills and through dark forests and when seven years old was often sent to mill with a bag of grain on horseback, a distance of 2-1/2 miles; and thus was early taught to feel, that what others could do, I could do. When at this age, for the tempting reward of 6-1/4 cents, I chopped off a solid maple log of over 2-1/2 feet in diameter; and when nine years old my brother two years younger and I, went into the woods, cut down basswood trees and made 40 saptroughs, tapped the trees, collected the sap, chopped the wood for our fire and made 36 lbs. of maple sugar with very slight help from father, who visited us once in two or three days to see how we got along.

That we should be trusted to do such kind of work alone at that age, now seems very strange to me.

When ten years old our family removed to the neighborhood of the First Baptist church of Colerain. Here my father erected a grist mill which did a prosperous business. In this mill I spent a large share of my time from twelve to eighteen years of age. Here I thoroughly-learned the trade of a miller and was able to conduct the business of the establishment. Here I first became interested in reading, through the influence of the Greenfield Gazette, a weekly paper which the mail carrier brought us regularly. I was strong and of large size, so that I weighed 150 lbs. when eighteen years old, and no boy or man as allowed to lift a bigger bag of grain, or outdo me in any of the athletic sports. Within this period occurred the cold season of 1815-17 producing almost a famine in our part of the state. Many families were greatly in want of bread, the corn and other crops being generally destroyed by the frosts. While in the good providence of God our family were well supplied, we often witnessed the distress of others who brought their last half-bushel and sometimes their last peck of corn to the mill to be ground. The country had just come out of the war with Great Britain, money was scarce and the people were poor; and the distress beyond anything I have since seen, was such as to produce a permanent impression upon my mind.

The year 1816 was rendered memorable by great revival of religion in our vicinity, especially in the First Baptist church of Colerain. Though I had been early taught the religion of the ten commandments, I do not recollect of ever feeling any concern about my own salvation 'till the fall of this year. The revival was general in the community and large numbers were converted and added to the First and Second Baptist churches. Rev. Geo. Witherell was the pastor of the First church. The church prior to this time had had no Sunday school and the days of protracted meetings had not yet come. The preaching of the pastor was faithful and searching. My parents as well as many others, were much engaged in the work. Meetings were held almost every evening in some part of the parish.

The feelings of anxiety on the part of the unconverted were intense and publicly manifested, though no calls for public expression were made and no anxious seats were provided. The joy of the converts was great and publicly declared. The religious teachings of that day in the Baptist churches were adapted to convince the unconverted of their sinfulness, in view of their violations of God's law, and their disregard of the claims of the Savior. Not only the openly profane and vicious were rebuked, but all rejectors of the claims of God in His law or in His gospel, were shown to be under condemnation and in perishing need of divine help in rescuing them from perdition. The unconverted were led to see themselves as sinners justly condemned and great was their joy when they obtained evidence of forgiveness through the intercession of a merciful Redeemer. Though only a child at the time, I became conscious that I was a sinner and that in many things I was hostile to the divine will. This I was told and intensely felt, exposed me to the displeasure of God and the doom that awaits all impenitent sinners. Fully realizing this, my concern and anxiety were intense for many days and nights. At length I found peace and great joy in the belief, that the Savior had accepted the surrender which I thought I was willing to make of myself to Him. Whether I had at that time any just conceptions of the nature of sin, of the way of salvation and of my own spiritual state I have often doubted; but later experiences have given me additional hope. At that early day before I was twelve years old I made a public profession of religion and was baptized into the fellowship of the First Baptist Church of Colerain, Mass., Nov. 1816, by Rev. Geo. Witherell, the pastor. Following this revival as is too often the case, there was a long period of spiritual declension. During this long period of six years, I habitually attended the meetings of the church and so lived as to escape any censure of the church. The discipline of the churches was more exacting than it now is and opinions of what was proper for Christians to indulge in were very different from those of the present day. For instance it was no offence against Christianity for a person to drink in a social way, just as much ardent spirits as he could without showing any signs of intoxication; but it was thought entirely improper for a boy who had been taken into the fold to spend an hour in skating on the ice in winter, or indulging in any of the amusements or games of childhood. These must all be relinquished and the child must maintain the sobriety of the man.

During this period the Leyden Baptist Association with which our church was connected, was a very efficient and active body of churches and ministers. Though the ministers were generally uneducated and greatly wanting in literary attainments they were earnest Bible students and well versed in biblical theology. Their sermons were extemporaneous and very impressive. Most of them were supported only in part by their churches and had to give part of their time to some secular employment to help out with their support. But they were friends to ministerial education and at this early day had an Education Society within their bounds for the purpose of aiding such young ministers as desired better educational preparation for their work. They were also actively engaged in both the foreign and home missionary work. Nearly every year they sent one of their own ministers on a three or four months' mission, to some destitute part of the country. My father was sent one year to the Black River country in the state of New York, and one year to the British Territory of Lower Canada. Many ministers called at our house and were always welcome. Their discussions on theological subjects with my father, were often intensely interesting to me and from them I gained many of those theological opinions, which have remained with me unchanged to the present day; in fact my father's house was a theological school to me.

In 1822 we had another deeply interesting revival of religion under the labors of Rev. James Person, our pastor. To me it was a time of great spiritual quickening and I was awakened to new spiritual activity. Though I had habitually attended the meetings of the church and its ordinances, yet I had never before engaged in active Christian work. Naturally timid and distrustful of my abilities, I had not yet ever offered prayer in public; but now I was pressed by the pastor beyond the power of resistance, into the performance of this duty. By degrees I began to speak more freely in public assemblies. Often I had great freedom and enjoyment in this work. Still at this time, when about eighteen years of age I was very deficient in education, though I had been taught the use of very good language in the family. By degrees my mind became impressed with the duty of fitting myself to preach the gospel. The mental struggle was long and very severe before I was convinced of my duty. While the work seemed a very desirable one, I shrank from entertaining any thoughts of entering upon it without the clearest evidence of a divine call. Besides there seemed insurmountable obstacles in the way. I had no means for acquiring an education and had little confidence in my qualifications of heart or mind for the work. But I was encouraged by the pastor and others to hope that I might succeed.

This institution had then been in operation only two years. But it took high ground both in the qualifications required for admission and in the course of study marked out. We had at that time only two professors, Chase and Ripley. They were slow plodding men, but thorough and exact scholars, and earnestly devoted to their work. Their piety was above reproach and in this respect they were worthy examples to their students.