74
The Story of My Childhood
But, singularly, I lost all desire for meat, if I had ever had it—and all through life to the present, have only eaten it when I must for the sake of appearance, or as circumstances seemed to make it the more proper thing to do. The bountiful ground has always yielded enough for all my needs and wants.
I had been eleven years old the
Christmas before. Great changes
had taken place during the two or
three preceding years. My energetic
brothers had outgrown farming, sold
their two farms on the hill, and come
down and bought of my father all his
water power on the French River, as
well as all obtainable timber land in
the vicinity. The staunch old up-and-down
saw still stood in its majesty
