St. Paul daily globe., 1888-05-13
GREAT MEMS BOYHOOD.
Curious Autograph Answers to a
Bold Question.


A young man in Massachusetts. says
an exchange, who is very much inter
ested in collecting autographs, displays
some notable letters from well-knOwn
men, all answers to the question: ''How
did you spend your boyhood?" Maj
Gen. POrter'S writing. upon one of the
letter sheets of the police department
of this city, under date of Oct. %, 1887.
says:
81 give thee all: | can no more.
though poor the Offering be- in the ac-
companying pamphlet. If | can get
time to give you my earlier career, and
also since this was printed, | will with
pleasure, but doubt it.
Thanks for your inquiry and inter-
est
The pamphlet was a sketch of the life
of the general, written for an encyclo-
p8dia, and contained Il fine steel en-
craving of him.
From Mendham, n. j., comes the lit
tie note of Maj.-Gen. Abner Doubleday.
dated November 90. 1887, and written in
neat running hand.
'You ask for some information as to
how passed my youth. | was brought
up in bookstore and early imbibed a
taste for reading. L was fond of poetry
matical studies. In my outdoor sports
l was addicted to Typographical work.
| and even as a boy amused myself by
| making maps of the country around my
| fathers residence, which was in Au-
burn, Cayuga county, New York.
He was bookseller and editor there.
LAS | am moving to New York | am
much hurried, and can not give more
details at present"
Z. E. Memmenger, once secretary of
the treasury of the confederate states,
writes from Charleston:
1.-The request made in your letter of
| the 26th inst. covers so much ground
that could not attempt to answer it. |
can, therefore, only say to you in gen
| eral terms that as a boy | was orderly
and industrious, endeaving to be per-
| feet in my school lessons and employing
! spare moments in reading history.
'Plutarch'S S Lives were my delight, and,
having good memory, | could repeat
every incide mt in some of them. Books
of this character instilied into me the
desire to serve my country, and, with
the aid which had from the family in
which | was brought up of moral and
religious teachings, | passed through
the ordeal of boyhood without acquiring
bad habits, and so grew up until | was
able to guide myself"
Leroy Pope Walker, one of jefferson
Davis confidential friends and MEM
Ter of his cabinet, in handsome hand.
large and clear, writes from Huntsville.
Ala:
My Dear Young Friend: Your note
| OF the 18th inst. is received in which
| you ask me to tell you how | spent my
| bOyhoOd. That is an impossible task.
| | remember, however, what l would
wish to forget, that was very idle aid
| mischievOu; boy. who never knew his
| lessons, and very often got hogged. with
| never a lick too much, so you see there
was nothing in my boyhOod for you to
| initiate, but everything to shun.''
This is from James Freeman Clark:
Jamaica Plain, March %. 1882. .-Mv
| Dear Young Friend: You write to ask
me to tell you how l passed my boy
| hood. | passed it much as suppose
| You do. part of it in studying Ovid and
| Viva Roma. and part of it in learning to
skate and swim, to ride on horseback.
| play ball. make bows and arrows and
climb 10 the top of the cherry tree. So
laid i'll a stock OF health which ena-
b!ed me TO live and work all these years.
| hope YOU will do the same
| Philip Brooks said: Il haven't time
! to tell you how passed lny youth. but