"I will not ask you to forgive my dustiness, my selfishness, but only assure you that this is my very last."

James returned home in the summer of 1831; and, as soon as the settlement of affairs allowed, informed his friends of his resolve to abandon for ever the mercantile profession. After full consideration of his prospects and aims, he determined to try his fortune, and in some way test his powers, in the great valley of the West. Thither we will now follow him, and see how the character formed in Youth developed itself in Manhood.

The views which guided him in emigrating to Ohio are explained in a letter addressed to his former teacher, Timothy Walker, Esq.

Boston, December 5th, 1831. Sir, I have for some time been thinking of going to the Westward in search of employment, for that which I have here is too sedentary for my taste or health; but as I knew no one who could give me any information respecting the proper mode of starting in your part of the world, I have put off the coming to the point from time to time, for the last twelve months.

"I now take the liberty of writing to you, hoping that, without inconvenience to yourself, you may be able to give me the information I want; which is, simply, whether, if I should reach Cincinnati in mid-winter, say January, I could probably find immediate employment in some active, outdoor business, with a compensation sufficient to give me a support until I could form some permanent arrangement. For this purpose it must be a place which I can leave at any time, with a short notice. My intention is to purchase land somewhere in Ohio, and undertake the care of an estate; but I wish to get some employment which will give me a bare sustenance, while I am gaining some insight into

the matter of farming, of which at present I know nothing, being one of that amphibious species, half merchant, half scholar, with a strong inclination to become either a cobbler or a blacksmith.

"I should suppose that, in a State like yours, a person possessing some knowledge of the business, and willing to work, might, by taking a small farm upon some of the rivers which empty into the Ohio, and attending to the raising of grain, cattle, getting down lumber, &c., lead a quiet life and make some money. Will you be good enough to inform me, if without inconvenience you can, what the value of cleared land of good quality upon the rivers may be per acre; and what is the probable cost of getting such a farm as a new settler would want into operation? However, I would not trouble you with any but the simple question, whether I can get occupation at once, or soon after arrival, in some active business, which I should prefer, or even in an in-door employment; and, by the way, perhaps the country would be better than the town to serve my apprenticeship in. I am ready to try any thing almost, which will leave me free to quit when I please.

"I beg you will not give yourself the least trouble, nor spend any of your time to answer me, unless you can well afford it; and hoping before long to see your city and self, I remain, your obedient servant, &c.

"JAMES H. PERKINS."

II.

MANHOOD.

1832-1849.

It was in February, 1832, that Mr. Perkins reached Cincinnati, intending to remain but a week or two, till the ground was sufficiently cleared from snow and settled, for him to look about and choose a farm. Meanwhile, he was asked to pass his leisure hours at the office of his friend, Mr. Walker, who had then just entered upon the professional career which has since so deservedly placed him in the front rank of Western jurisprudents. It was a matter of course, with his habits of vigorous inquiry, that he should take up the books around him, and catch such glimpses as he could of the science of the law. He had long since learned to husband his time, and knew well that all information comes sometimes in play, while variety of discipline best matures the judgment. So, instead of idling, gossiping, or staring at novelties, he studied; studied so diligently, indeed, that, unawares, he found himself becoming profoundly interested in tracing out the symmetrical system of justice, which, like a network of nerves, pervades the body of social relations. The result of this accidental application was, that, drawn in part by the exhilarating pleasure of the study, and in part by the counsels of Mr. Walker, and of young friends whom he met at the

office, who all admired his commanding intellect, he suddenly resolved to devote himself to the law. "For

a week past," he wrote, in great spirits, "I have been too busy to do any thing but study, fourteen hours per day being my allowance of work, for I am not joking, I assure you. After all the uncertainties of my life, I have at last hit upon that to which I should have been trained from youth upward, if I could have had my own way. But in knowledge, I fancy I am about as far on as if I had passed through college, and in wickedness being a little behindhand is no harm. So, Mr. Professional, here 's at you. Having taken up study in earnest, I mean to stick to it." And again to his father he playfully says: "The books which you have had the kindness to send have not arrived, but they will be amply in time to instruct me in the business of horticulture, as I see small prospect of becoming a farmer for a year or two yet. The law, that came in on a visit merely, may remain as a resident, unless something new turns up. The more I study it, the more I like it; though this may be on the principle that a horse goes by in a burning stable, when he runs into the fire instead of out of the door. In Cincinnati, the number of lawyers is large; but in the country there is a wide field to do justice - that is, to practise abominations in. Titles, to be sure, are clear hereabouts, men peaceable, and laws mild; but I flatter myself that I can pick up information enough in two years to change all that,' sufficiently, at least, to serve my own interests."

'

Mr. Perkins was yet further led to stay in Cincinnati by the charms of the social circle to which he was at once introduced, and where he found himself welcomed with a cordial truthfulness, that opened his heart, and set

free his long prisoned affections. In place of fashionable coldness, aristocratic hauteur, purse-pride, ostentation, reserve, non-committalism, the tyranny of cliques, and the fear of leaders, he found himself moving among a pleasant company of hospitable, easy, confiding, plainspoken, cheerful friends, gathered from all parts of the Union, and loosed at once by choice and promiscuous intercourse from trammels of bigotry and conventional prejudice. He breathed for once freely, and felt with joy the blood flowing quick and warm throughout his spiritual frame. He caught, too, the buoyant hopefulness that animates a young, vigorous, and growing community, and mingled delightedly with groups of highhearted, enterprising men, just entering on new careers, and impelled by the hope of generous service in literary, professional, or commercial life. Above all, happiest good-fortune brought him at once under the influence of woman, as he had so long in the ideal dreamed of her,

serenely wise, pure as lovely, spreading around her the verdure and bloom of goodness, through daily charities of home. Extracts from his letters will best show the elasticity of his temper, and the direction of his thoughts.

May 6th."Being confined the greater part of the time to an office, carrying on a war against reports and textbooks, and busied in gathering together my spoils, I can have but little to tell you as to the world without; though once in a while, to be sure, when I feel very anti-sublunary, I take a turn of ten or twelve miles in the country, and fancy myself in the garden of Eden, the only thing in the way of completing this idea being the prevalence of rail-fences. To a person who has been all his life in New England, where a man ploughs, not his land, but his rocks, and where the great secret of agriculture, if I mistake not, is, by dint