Changes

Oh no! Not the Berlin we we hear so much about in these days, but a thriving city in Green Lake Co., [[Wisconsin]]. Father's brother, John, was a farmer, living a few miles out from Berlin. I knew Uncle John and Aunt Hannah, but had never seen my cousins, William and Edgar. Uncle wrote, inviting me to make them a visit. Father and Mother urged it. I had worked hard, they said, and a change would do me good. So I gave up the thought of teaching that summer and went to Uncle John's. Never having traveled alone, it seemed quite an adventure; but I undertook it with less trepidation than I should have felt at any time in coming from Plainfield to New York alone.

"Oh, but you can't do it; he fought the other teachers, and the big boys have all pledged themselves to help him. We heard them talking." I thanked them, calling them "dear boys", and told them not to worry, I wasn't afraid; but I did not feel exactly gay, when I was left alone. Herbert Steadman Stedman was sixteen, and a head taller than I. He chewed tobacco, smoked, swore, and sometimes got drunk. He always failed to get promoted out of that grad, and I wondered why he was allowed there at all. Except that my room was noisy, so many feet on the bare floor, I was almost satisfied. Lessons went well, and there was little whispering. Friday afternoons were devoted to singing, reading compositions and speaking pieces.