'
"My mother, however, went home; but with the understanding that she
would return in a few weeks--as the wife of their son.
"In two months she was again with them; and never a happier
household! In the second year of their marriage I was sent to them. My
grandparents made almost an idol of me, and from grandfather I used to
hear of his father's adventures in the Revolution. He inspired me with
a devotion to his country which was fostered by my mother. When I was
sixteen, my father was thrown from his horse and brought home to us
insensible, and lived with us but a few hours. My mother's health,
naturally very delicate, sank under this great affliction. She lived
only a year afterward, and I was left to comfort my grandparents, now
quite advanced in years. They would not hear of my going away again to
school, and engaged a private tutor--a young gentleman, a graduate of
Yale. I had been under Mr. Huntington's instructions four years when
the country began to be convulsed with the whispers of secession--one
State after another passing that miserable ordinance--my grandfather
said:
"'Paul, my boy, if Mississippi goes out, I shall go, too--not only out
of the Union, but out of this world of sorrow and trouble.
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