The author of these pages was born in Royalton, Wind sor County, Vt., March 25, 1830. He is the tenth child and fourth son of John G. Dutton and Abigail Morrill. There are few incidents of his youth of sufficient interest to his readers to be mentioned here. He was fond of books at an early age and generally won the approbation of his teach ers. He remembers reciting Peter Parley's Geography en tire, at two recitations, on the last day of a term of school when he was only eight years of age. His sister Mary, afterwards preceptress of the High School at Rutland, Vt, formed with her brother the entire class. He does not men tion this as evidence of precocity, to which he lays no claim, but, thanks to the industrious and frugal habits of his parents, he had a tenacious memory. For the benefit of those who believe in dreams and signs, two other incidents of his childhood are here truthfully related. He dreamed one night of finding a hen's nest at the barn with seventeen eggs. Relating his dream in the morning, he told his sis ter Mary, next older than himself, that if she would go with.