At night I would steal away with
my axe, get a load of wood to cut for twenty-five cents, and the next
morning hardly escape a whipping for the offence. But I persevered until I
had obtained twenty dollars. Now I began to think seriously of becoming
able to buy myself; and cheered by this hope, I went on from one thing to
another, laboring "at dead of night," after the long weary day's toil for
my master was over, till I found I had collected one hundred dollars. This
sum I kept hid, first in one place and then in another, as I dare not put
it out, for fear I should lose it.
After this I lit upon a plan which proved of great advantage to me. My
father suggested a mode of preparing smoking tobacco, different from any
then or since employed. It had the double advantage of giving the tobacco
a peculiarly pleasant flavor, and of enabling me to manufacture a good
article out of a very indifferent material. I improved somewhat upon his
suggestion, and commenced the manufacture, doing as I have before said,
all my work in the night.
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