CHAPTER VI
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.—1858
MAN is the creature of habit, and though the
experiences through which I had passed at Jonestown were
anything but congenial, I was almost loath to change my
peaceful, careless existence for the more active life I really
desired. It was evident that I had made many friends
who were sorry at my departure, and I did not part from
them without sincere regret. The Umberger family all
cried when I took leave. I promised them and others to
visit Jonestown again soon; but, alas! though I have all
along intended to do so, circumstances have always
prevented my revisiting the scene of my first and last
attempt at teaching up to this writing — that is, during the
thirty-eight years that have elapsed since I left. I
suppose I should now hardly find any of my acquaintances
among the living.[1]
I departed from Jonestown just twenty-three years old, with a moderately replenished wardrobe, about sixty dollars in my pocket, and fifty more due me from the Staats-Zeitung. This was all I had in the world except splendid health, eagerness for work, and fully regained and unbounded confidence in myself. I went directly to New York, determined to try once more for regular journalistic employment. I was more fortunate this time than in the previous fall. On calling at the office of the Staats-Zeitung and sending in my name to the publisher, Oswald Ottendorfer, I was at once invited into his private office. He received me very cordially, complimented me on my
- ↑ Jonestown was revisited by Mr. Villard in company with his son Oswald in the spring of 1897. All, in fact, whom he had known had disappeared.
