One of the best things that ever happened to me was when I was returning home from an errand I was on for my mother. I met a man named Peter Heinrich. He was a young Quaker who had been sent to this area to start a school. He asked me if I would like to come to his school. I told him that I wasn't sure if my folks could spare me from my chores. But he said that he would at least loan me some books.

Because the town's folk were so anxious to have a school, Mr. Heinrich was able to set the conditions for admissions. And he insisted that there should be no restrictions on which boys could attend. (Girls were not sent in school until several years after the Revolutionary war.)

I was only able to attend for a few weeks during the winter. But that was where I first started to learn about arithmetic. Even then as a small boy I used to enjoy talking with my neighbors about the things I was learning. They would sometimes ask me to help them with their financial figures.