A few years after my father's death, my mother married again.  Her husband was a man named David JAMES, a coal miner.  They were married at St. Clair and moved from there to East Norwegian.  From that marriage one son was born, Thomas JAMES, four years younger than myself.

At the time of my mother's death I was too young to remember what it all meant to me.  Shortly after her death my sister left to live with others.  My half brother was also taken care of by some neighbors; leaving me alone with my stepfather.  As he drank a good deal, he would leave me alone for several days and nights.  He would only come in to sober up.  Then he would go to the mines to earn more money.  After a few days in the mines he would repeat his drinking spree again.  He kept up this drinking habit as long as I knew him.

During those drinking spells, no food was provided for me.  I have often been hungry.  I would go out on the hills in search of tea leaves, birch bark and slippery elm bark in an effort to ease my hunger.  There was plenty of good water to drink.  Some times a neighbor would bring in a few slices of home-made bread, very dry and hard, with common lard spread over it in place of butter.  Salt was spread on it to give it seasoning.  No matter how hard the bread was, it tasted good to me then.

Without the counsel of a father or the gently hand of a mother to guide me, I was growing up wild.  I was left-handed and had the habit of stone throwing.  This got me in trouble with other boys; especially Irish Catholic boys, who would make fun of me and call me names which caused me to run them with stones which I always kept handy about me.

Fighting was common in those days with men and boys and also much drinking.  It was natural, with such influences around me to grow up wild.  I took the stand that I must fight my way through the world, if I expected to live.

Let me relate one incident that made me bitter against those who mistreated me.  I was standing alone between a railroad and a creek.  A full grown man, an Irishman, called me to come to him.  I was always shy of going close to anyone, but I did cautiously go to him.  Suddenly he picked me up, carried me to the creek and held my head under the water, almost stopping my breath.  The water came from the coal mines and it was strongly impregnated with sulphur.  Twelve years after that, I was a grown man.  I looked for him but could not find him.

Another incident that caused trouble in my life.  I was sent to a public school near by.  I had been there but a short time, when I got into a fight with a boy named HINKLE.  While we were punching and biting each other between the seats, Mr. KELLY, the teacher, came rushing down to us.  I had HINKLE down between the seats.  He thought I started the fight.  He threw me out the door over three steps.  I landed on my feet, picked up a piece of cinder, the size of a baseball, and as he looked toward me, when he was closing the door, I threw it and struck him on the eye.  Next day, I was watching him from a distance, and saw he had a bandage around his head.  My school days were over.  I was suspended by the trustees.  HINKLE and I had fought several times.  The teacher should not have placed us on the same seat.  I did wrong by throwing at the teacher, but my finger was bitten so badly and pained me so that I had forgotten that I was at school and had no chance to explain.

An incident happened to me shortly after my school trouble that I have never forgotten to this day.  I was walking along the railroad track and noticed a man coming toward me.  I tried to avoid him but the place was narrow.  He spoke to me in a kind voice, placing his hand on my head, he said, 'Where are you going my boy?' Not being accustomed to kind words, I could not look up nor speak to him.  Even to this day I have never forgotten the kind tone of his voice.  I have followed his example all through my life.  Whenever I meet a boy looking like I felt at that time, I can not pass him without speaking to him kindly and giving him some coins, and leaving him with kind words.  If I had known, at that time that some day I would write these things down, I would have kept many letters that I have received from men, now grown up, thanking me for my advice and kindness to them when they were boys.