The first proved to be a brother of Mrs. Cook, of Michigan, who had been so kind to me in the past, and the second was her daughter, who rapidly recounted by-gone scenes, and lovingly lingered upon the many cherished memories my presence had evoked.  They took me to their home in the city, and lavished upon me all the kindness and attention love could suggest.  Among the many reminiscences came the one sad story of the father’s death.  In one of the darkest, sternest hours of my childhood he had held out to me the kind, paternal hand, and welcomed me to the protection of his own roof, and the story of his death deeply interested me.  It was in substance this: 

The family had returned from some festive scene on Christmas eve, and the father, leaving them to stable his horses, was so long absent as to arouse anxiety.  They sought him everywhere, but found him not.  After a night of untold suspense the morning revealed to them the shocking sight of his dead body lying in the corner of an adjoining lot, his face smiling and peaceful in death, his arms folded and limbs outstretched.  He had been cruelly gored by a creature he had fed and fostered, cherishing it as a pet among his domestic animals, and it had turned upon him as many so-called human creatures repay those who have protected and loved them!

They knew not whether his wounds or the intense cold had been the final cause of death, but such was the sad dawning of their Christmas day, and so, amid the joy of my reunion with those dear friends, came the sad thought that—­

    Ever amid life’s roses
      Will the sombre cypress be twined,
    And wherever a joy reposes,
      A dream of sorrow we find.

I feel it due to the various government officials at Washington to give them an expression of gratitude for the great facilities afforded me in the way of permits to canvass in the many public departments, knowing their strict rules and rigid restrictions in this regard.

I was volunteered an entree everywhere, from the humblest government office to the Capitol and White House, and in each and all was courteously received.  In subsequent years I had also great reason for gratitude to Mr. Colfax, who not only gave his own patronage, but presented me to Congress, the members of which vied with each other in liberality.

CHAPTER V.

    “Thus, with delight, we linger to survey
    The promised joys of life’s unmeasured way;
    Thus, from afar, each dim discovered scene
    More pleasing seems than all the rest hath been;
    And every form that fancy can repair
    From dark oblivion, glows divinely there.”

My nature, in its first struggle with the world, shrank, like Mimosa, from every human touch; but the kind words of love and gentle acts of kindness already received transformed and ripened within me a more trusting and hopeful character, and I almost unconsciously accepted as immutable and inevitable the great law of compensation.