Born Again | Page 2

combative by nature and never
happier than when fighting the Devil in his own corner, as he expressed
it. Furthermore, he was haughty, stubborn and egotistical, and these

traits of character I inherited from him. But while I honestly inherited
combativeness, stubbornness and egotism from my father, these
characteristics became very objectionable to him when displayed by
myself. So from my earliest childhood days there was a continual tug
of war between us to see who would be master of the house.
There was one inheritance I received from my father, however, that I
have always felt profoundly grateful to him for, namely, a sound
physical constitution. One of his earnest teachings, which, by the way,
was generally ridiculed, was that parents should not bring children into
the world unless they themselves had led temperate lives and were in
perfect health. In this respect he lived as he preached and practiced
temperateness in all things.
As I grew up I was taught to take care of myself physically, as well as
mentally and morally. At the age of eleven I was as large and strong as
most boys of sixteen, and at sixteen there were few men who could
outdo me in feats of strength and endurance. My education was limited
to what I learned at the different public schools which I attended, and
without exception I was always rated as the very worst boy of the
whole institution. I do not believe that ever a day passed that I was not
sent to the principal for refractory conduct, and in many instances I was
suspended or expelled entirely. Fighting was my chief offence as I was
always ready and anxious for a fistic encounter with any boy who was
willing to battle. In short, I was a very unruly child with an independent
spirit, who recognized the authority of nobody to give arbitrary
commands. In consequence of these facts my father and I had frequent
altercations and as my innate love for travel and adventure asserted
itself I ran away from home when but eleven years old, an age when
most children are mere babies, and started out in the world to paddle
my own canoe.
I began to earn my own living by selling newspapers on the streets of
Chicago, and from that time on became a wanderer upon the face of the
earth; working at various occupations and engaging in many schemes
and pursuits in an endeavor to pay my way through life, and during the
next eleven years I not only visited every part of the United States, but

nearly every country in the world, during which time I experienced
enough adventures to fill many books if put into print, but as they have
no bearing upon this narrative I must pass them by without mention.
And so at the age of twenty-two, being then a worthless vagabond, I
was aboard a three-masted schooner working my way from Australia to
England as a common sailor. That was during the year of 1881.
CHAPTER II
Phrenologists after studying the bumps on my head have invariably told
me that I lacked diplomacy. This, as I understand it, simply means an
incapability of acting the hypocrite. And it does seem under the present
system of human existence, that he who fails to practice hypocrisy
finds innumerable obstacles to overcome, which otherwise might be
avoided. So, lacking in this virtue, as diplomacy is sometimes styled,
led me into trouble with nearly everybody with whom I had any
dealings. Indeed, had it not been for this very defect in my nature, I
should not have been forced to pass through the most remarkable life, I
think, ever experienced by living man. And so the ship had barely
passed out of the harbor before I had undiplomatically aroused the
enmity of all the other seamen, and within two weeks I was thoroughly
detested by every man aboard from the captain to the cook. The crew
was composed of an unusually tough set of characters who avowed
from the beginning that they did not like Yankees and would make life
insufferable for me before reaching the next port. Fist fights became
frequent and each one of the sailors took a "punch at my head" at
different times, only to learn that I enjoyed that kind of sport and
retaliated in a way that laid the offender up for repairs afterward. The
fact that in these encounters I always gained an easy victory over my
opponents caused a more intense feeling of bitterness to exist than ever,
and to make matters worse the captain's wife, who was the only woman
on the ship, took sides with me against all the others. This apparently
angered the captain, for on one occasion, after he had given orders to