weighed before deciding, and I will let you know my decision within a week.”

Seeing that Mr. De Vere was determined10 and that nothing would be gained by prolonging the interview, Mills was obliged to be content and soon after left, fully convinced that his mission was accomplished.

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CHAPTER II

JOHN DE VERE was born on a farm at Greenmeadow, New York. His grandfather, Benoni De Vere, came from Tarrytown to Greenmeadow in 1796 and was the first settler there.

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John’s father was a representative of the sturdy men of those stirring times and his mother was a woman of great strength of character. Nine children were reared in a veritable wilderness and their destinies were governed by the restrictions of the times. Six days of the week were spent in hard labor on the farm and the seventh lived in John’s memory as a horrible dream. On this day, winter and summer, instead of five they arose at six o’clock. Milking and breakfast over, the whole family repaired to the parlor for family prayers, which ceremony lasted an hour. They then hurried off to church where for two mortal hours the good dominie12 preached Calvinism unabridged. Woe to the culprit who fidgeted or betrayed any lack of interest, and John sat on those hard seats without moving a muscle until his bones ached.

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Relatives and friends usually dined with them on Sunday and the children “waited.” After the sermon in all its bearings had been discussed, the sweetmeats and tea—which appeared on company days—were sparingly dealt out to the children and they took what else remained on the table, John inwardly vowing that when he grew up, he would have all the sweetmeats and tea he wanted.

Pilgrim’s Progress, Baxter’s Saints Everlasting Rest, Fox’s Book of Martyrs and the Bible were the only books allowed, and a funereal atmosphere pervaded everything. When the guests left and the chores were done, the children went to bed thankful for the Sunday less.

Naturally a student, John worked hard, saved his money, studied every spare moment of his time and eventually was graduated with honors from Union College; then, broken in13 

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