land. I took to books naturally, and the plan was to give me an
education, and then add a learned profession, or set me up in some little
business. So I went to school, and after awhile was sent to Oberlin
College. Queer old place, that! Great place for praying and for teaching
the universal brotherhood of man! The result, I used to think, was that
a colored man commanded a premium over a white man there. I worried the
thing through for three years and a half. There was a young mulatto
student in the school named Deering, who was a great deal too big for his
clothes. He was inclined to force himself into places where he was not
wanted, and at anything like the manifestation of a desire to dispense
with his society, he grew saucy in a moment. I did not mind him, but he
was vinegar and brimstone to a young student from Tennessee, a slight,
weakly lad, but as brave a little chap as you ever saw, named Thorne.
Well, one day, for some impertinence, Thorne struck him. Deering was an
athlete; he weighed twenty pounds more than I did, fifty more than
Thorne, I guess; he was quick as lightning, was most handy with his
props, and in an instant he smashed poor Thorne's face with a blow which
knocked him half senseless.

"I sprang to Thorne, at the same time telling Deering it was a cowardly
act for one like him to strike a little fellow like Thorne. He answered
something to the effect that for a trifle he would smash me a good deal
worse than he had Thorne, and--well, in a minute more there were lively
times in that neighborhood.

"It was a tough scrap. It was out on the green; the students gathered
around us, and while some cried out to stop us, others shouted, 'Fair
play!' and so we were not interfered with. I remember saying to myself,
'If I win, it must be a triumph of race and mind over matter;' but, Jack,
that was mighty lively matter. We both had been rowing and practicing in