When  we  became  chemists  we  might  have  sul-
phuric acid,  nitric  acid,  litmus  paper,  or  whatever
we  desired,  so  our  allowance  would  stand  it.  I
was  not  more  than  seven  years  old  when  I  burned
off  my  eyebrows  by  igniting  gunpowder  with  my
burning-glass.  My  hair  was  then  so  light  that
nobody  missed  a  little,  more  or  less,  above  the
eyelids.  I  thought  it  was  wisest  not  to  tell  my
mother,  because  it  might  shock  her  nerves,  and  I
was  a  man,  thirty  years  old,  before  she  heard  of  it.
Such  playthings  as  these,  with  very  careful  restric-
tions on  the  amount  of  powder,  with  good  blocks
for  building,  quite  an  assortment  of  carpenter's
tools,  a  work-bench  good  enough,  printing  ma-
terials ad  libitum  from  my  father's  printing-oflSce,
furnished  endless  occupation.
Before  I  attempt  any  account  of  the  home  life
which  grew  out  of  such  conditions  I  must  make  a


46  A  New  England  Boyhood

little  excursus  to  describe  the  domestic  service  of
those  days,  quite  different  from  ours.  I  wish  par-
ticularly to  describe  Fullum,  who  outlived  the  class
to  which  he  belonged,  and  had,  when  he  died,  in
1886,  long  been  its  last  representative.
