In 1860 A Total Eclipse Of The

My Father Was The Most Rational And The Most Dispassionate Of Men.

As Years Passed Away I Have Formed The Habit Of Looking Back Upon That Former Self As Upon Another Person, The Remembrance Of Whose Emotions Has Been A Solace In Adversity And Added Zest To The Enjoyment Of Prosperity.

When About Fifteen I Once Made A Great Scandal By Taking Out My Knife In Prayer Meeting And Assaulting A Young Man Who, While I Was Kneeling Down During The Prayer, Stood Above Me And Squeezed My Neck.

Until I Was Four Years Old I Lived In The House Of My Paternal Grandfather, About Two Miles From The Pretty Little Village Of Wallace, At The Mouth Of The River Of That Name.

The Demonstration That No Possible Combination Of Known Substances, Known Forms Of Machinery And Known Forms Of Force, Can Be United In A Practical Machine By Which Men Shall Fly Along Distances Through The Air, Seems To The Writer As Complete As It Is Possible For The Demonstration To Be.