I assured him of my innocence of the affair, which he fully believed, shook me by the hand and wished me well. I went immediately home and acquainted the family with what had occurred, showed them the scars upon my legs made by the rattan. All seemed much affected on account of my undeserved punishment, and also much indignation towards the boy who was the cause of it. I continued my studies at home and probably lost nothing by leaving school. I regretted this affair very much, and felt it more sensibly than I should have done had it occurred a few months previous, as the following story will show. Unfortunately for me on my return from New York, I became associated with several very bad boys, although they belonged to respectable families, and were smart, intelligent lads, yet their habits were very bad; using much profane language, and were very fond of boxing, and on some occasions absenting themselves from school.
All these bad habits I imbibed and became one of them. My language at times was awfully profane, and I was frequently engaged in a fight; sometimes I got well whipped and then again have flogged boys much larger than myself. Our gang, as we were called, were notorious for all kinds of mischief, not of thieving, however, or of doing any one an injury, but of playing tricks on boys, and of doing many things for sport that could be called by no other name than mischief. We often got into difficulties, some of which were of a serious character. At this time there existed a feud between a class of boys denominated the aristocracy, and boys who did not come under this category, and between these two classes there was little association.
One day four of us went over to the bottom of the Common to have a swim; the water then came up to the foot of the knoll west of the great tree, and by wading out twenty yards, was deep enough for bathing. We selected a clean spot, where we undressed, and had just thrown off our clothes, when four of the above described chaps came down also for a bath. They commenced with their feet, kicking our clothes aside to make room for themselves. We demanded of them what right they had to meddle with our clothing. One of them, in a very haughty manner, replied, " Inferiors should move for their superiors." " Do you hear that?" says one of our party.
There were four of us and four of them, but they were much the stoutest boys. However, we consulted the matter a few minutes, and determined to fight them. We were all undressed, and in a good trim for a battle. I was to commence by attacking the largest, who was already in the water. I wa*ded out and clinched him, but soon found lie was too many guns for me; his arms were so much longer than mine that I could hardly get a chance to hit him. The others sung out for quarters. They then apologized for the insult, and we were ever after good and recognizable friends. Another of these gentry, a fellow older and much heavier than myself, grossly insulted me in the school yard one day, which ended in a fight.
I whipped him in good fashion, and to his perfect satisfaction. He belonged to what was then called one of the first families in Boston, and was afterwards a talented and distinguished lawyer. His father was one cf our most prominent statesmen, and as I have before observed, the sons of these rich men assumed a sort of superiority over those of the lower and middling classes; and scarcely would they ever mingle with them in play. This foolish pride was often punished, and many a spruce young gentleman had to walk home with a black eye or a damaged face, and on almost every occasion they commenced the difficulty themselves, by assuming haughty airs, and trying to exercise a superiority over those who were not so well dressed.
One day a party of us were engaged in a game of cricket on the Common, and it so happened that there were three of these upper class on one side, and we wanted one more to make even sides, so we took in a first rate hoy, who was an excellent scholar and of good deportment, when one of the three just alluded to, threw down his bat, declaring he would not play if this boy was chosen; for, said he, in a sneering manner, " look at his dress" Now his dress was tidy and clean, though the cloth probably was not so fine as his who objected to him. The boy felt hurt at the remark, but we insisted that he should play, and any one who objected to him might leave the ground.