I will here relate an incident that will give my readers a little insight into my impulses.  At Liberty School we had a class in Smellie’s “Natural Philosophy.”  There was an argument among the girls.  Some said animals had reasoning faculties.  Others said not.  Miss Jennie Johnson, our teacher, said:  “Have that for a question to debate on in your society.”  So it was ordered.  I was given the affirmative.  The Friday came.  I was taken by surprise and was in confusion, when I saw the room crowded.  The two other societies of the Seminary, “The Mary Lyons” and “Rising Star,” also all the teachers, were present.  Our Society was the “Eunomian”.  I had made no preparations.  When I was called I know I looked ridiculously blank.  The president tried to keep her face straight.  I got no farther than, “Miss President”.  All burst out in uncontrollable laughter.  I went to my seat put my face in my arms and turned my back to the audience.  I wept with tears of humiliation.  I felt disgraced.  I thought of what a shame this would be to my parents.  How ever after this I must be considered a “Silly” by my schoolmates.  These things nerved me.  I dried my tears, turned around in my seat, looked up, and the moral force it required to do this was almost equal to that which smashed a saloon.  I arose and said:  “Miss President, I am ready to state my case.”  I began in this style:  “I know animals have the power to reason for my brothers cured a dog from sucking eggs by having him take a hot one in his mouth, and it was the last egg we ever knew him to pick up.  Why?  Because he remembered the hot one and reasoned that he might get burned.  Why is it that a horse will like one person more than another?  Because he is capable of reasoning and knows who is the best to him.”  I went on in this homely style and spoke with a vehemence which said:  “I will make my point,” which I did amidst the cheers of the school.  I was eighteen at this time and you would say:  “You must have been rather green.”  So I was in some things.

I believe I have always failed in everything I undertook to do the first time, but I learned only by experience, paid dearly for it, and valued it afterwards.  My failures have been my best teachers.  I see no one more awkward than I once was, but I had determined to conquer.  My defects were the great incentives to perseverance, when I felt I was right.

I shall not in this book speak much of my love affairs, but they were, nevertheless, an important part of my life.  I was a great lover.  I used to think a person never could love but once in this life, but I often now say, I would not want a heart that could hold but one love.  It was not the beauty of face or form that was the most attractive to me in young gentlemen, or ladies, but that of the mind.  Seeing this the case with myself, I tried to acquire knowledge to make my company agreeable.  I see young ladies, and gentlemen, who entertain each other with their silly jokes and gigglings that are disgusting.