Finding discipline was still lax, he
proceeded with paternal solemnity to administer it himself. His
brother acknowledged that this was done with reluctant fidelity!
Truly the moral instincts of the family were worthy of their
Puritan ancestry.
Although naturally self-conscious and shy, his precociousness in
boyhood, bringing him into association, as it did, with much
older folk, bred a somewhat arrogant manner. The rule he
exercised over younger members of the family also made him
somewhat domineering, a fault which he diligently sought to
correct in later life. At fifteen he had become a miniature man
of business and was driving cattle on long journeys with all the
confidence of mid-age. The letter from which we have already
quoted has one or two more passages which may enlighten us as to
his rearing. Still writing in the third person, he says, 'John
had been taught from earliest childhood to fear God and keep His
commandments, and though quite sceptical he had always by turns
felt much doubt as to his future well being. He became to some
extent a convert to Christianity, and ever after a firm believer
in the divine authenticity of the Bible. With this book he
became very familiar, and possessed a most unusual memory of its
entire contents.
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