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Chapter 30 The Men Who Influenced My Life Of course, my father, my example and guide in childhood and boyhood , shaped my ideas and conduct in the largest measure. He was practically self-educated. I never heard him refer to going to school. He had a fine mind and was well informed on medicine, law, business , and many skills like wheelwright work, carpentering, building , painting, blacksmithing, and farming. I never knew a man with such varied knowledge. He wrote a good hand and used good English . He read many worthwhile books and had sound ideas on politics , religion, and government. He inspired confidence and made friends with the best people, but he incurred the bitter enmity of an outlaw class, who could not influence him. He had a great moral courage and expressed himself freely on all important matters. He was justice of the peace and postmaster in Providence. His especial bent was medicine, and he was frustrated because he could not be a doctor. He gave his family medical care in all except serious cases. Yet he had the greatest difficulty in making a living, and, but for the money earned by my mother in all of my childhood and boyhood in teaching short terms of schools for very small pay, I do not see how we would have lived. My mother’s influence was even greater. She made all our clothes and, with a little help from a colored woman, did all the housework. After I was eleven years old, she did all the work with my help. I did much in cooking and washing and cut wood, built fires, etc. She taught us all we knew in books, about religion and the Bible, and influenced us to read good books. My character and my habits of thought, action, and speech were entirely formed by my parents. My mother’s intellect, education, and breeding gave us high standards of behavior and a consciousness of noblesse oblige. We knew that we were descended from honorable and well-bred people who earned distinction in various ways by their patriotism, their civic achieve- 232 THE WAY OF DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY ments, and their military service. Our poverty never lowered our pride, and we were respected and liked by the best people. To the Reverend A. Toomer Porter I owe the opportunity to rise above what seemed to be hopeless poverty and humble living. On my mother’s plea, he took me to his school, the Holy Communion Church Institute in Charleston, South Carolina, and gave me an education without charge. His fees for books, board, and tuition were $210 per year, but very few of the boys could pay anything. We never knew about one another’s financial status, and we were at no disadvantage because of poverty. The railroads and steamships gave us passes through Dr. Porter, and our parents managed to pay the uniform fee of $12 and for one suit of clothes, which I wore every day. During my third year, my brother was teaching in the school, and he paid my fee and bought me my first overcoat. In after years, I was able to pay Dr. Porter in full and to return to my brother his assistance many times over. At Dr. Porter’s, I was baptized and con- firmed in the Episcopal Church, which has had a great influence on my life. Religious opportunities, except occasional Sunday schools, were few in my boyhood. While I never saw him but the one time, I really owe my appointment to West Point to Mr. Sherman Conant, a leading railroad builder in Florida. I had won the competitive examination in Jacksonville , thanks to my education at Dr. Porter’s, but Congressman Charles Dougherty would not give me the appointment. Mr. Conant had sent him to Congress, and Dougherty had made him a member of the straw board for the competition. Just before it was time for me to leave for West Point for the entrance examination, I met Mr. Conant in Leesburg and told him my situation. He was very angry and said: “That man cannot treat you this way.” In a few days, I received the appointment. Shortly after I joined the First Infantry at Benicia Barracks, California , I met the daughters of William Montrose Graham, who, as colonel, commanded the Fifth Artillery at the Presidio of San Francisco . I met him when I called on the young ladies, and...

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