Autobiography of a Beggar-boy Book

Title: Autobiography of a Beggar Boy; in Which Will Be Found Related the Numerous Trials ... of a Strangely Chequered Life; With Glimpses of Social and Political History Over a Period of Fifty Years General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1856 Original Publisher: Tweedie Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: LETTEE III. Mr Dear Thomas. -- The first two chapters in the history of my life can be of very little interest either to you or any body else. Their principal value will be found in their connection with after events. Every man's life is made up of a chain of causes, some of which produce direct or immediate effects, others would seem to act upon us in the remote periods of our existence, and exercise an influence over our very destinies. I am not a fatalist -- at least, I think not -- yet I have often found myself led and acted upon by feelings and influences which. I could not account for by any little philosophy I possessed. This short-sightedness may arise occasionally from attributing certain acts and circumstances in our lives to proximate rather than to distant causes, or vice versa. As you proceed with this narrative, you will observe that my life has been one of epochs, or, more properly speaking, I have been carried forward by a succession of trade-winds without any directing power of my own. I may mention a circumstance here, which, though trivial in itself, will prove that we frequently labour under feelings and hold ideas we cannot account for upon any rational principle- -- at least, that such has been my case. From my earliest recollection, I was impressed with a feeling of the most unmitigated hatred against my own father: when, how, or where such a feeling took h...Read More