20
The Story of My Childhood
well. To this day my seat on a saddle or on the back of a horse is as secure and tireless as in a rocking chair, and far more pleasurable. Sometimes, in later years, when I found myself suddenly on a strange horse in a trooper's saddle, flying for life or liberty in front of pursuit, I blessed the baby lessons of the wild gallops among the beautiful colts.
Various as were the topics of instruction
pursued by my youthful
teachers, my father had still others.
He was "Captain" Stephen Barton,
had served as a non-commissioned officer,
under General Wayne (Mad Anthony)
in the French and Indian Wars
on the then Western frontiers. His
soldier habits and tastes never left
him. Those were also strong politi-
