68 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

the support of the established church and could relate sad tales of the various persecutions which had harassed their denomination in New England until at least 1799.

All the early years of his life were spent on his father's farm. The knowledge of farming there obtained and later supplemented by reading along that line served him well as a pioneer, as did also an unusual ability to turn his hand to many things. To the hard conditions of his life on the farm he doubtless owed not only the latter talent, but his tireless industry and his ability to endure hardships. In spite of health which was never rugged, these qualities were his to a marked degree.

From the common schools near his home, he gained suffi- cient education to begin teaching at the age of eighteen. At the same age he was converted and united with the Baptist church in Wendell. Out of the religious life which followed came the conviction that he ought to preach the Gospel, and with it, the resolution to fit himself thoroughly for the work.

With no other aid than his own, he struggled nearly twelve years to carry out this purpose. His preparation for college was received in part from a nearby academy, but progress was slow because of much time necessarily spent in teaching and in work on the farm. Severe sickness also hindered him.

He was admitted to Amherst College in 1822. That institu- tion had opened its doors only the year before for the purpose of educating "poor and pious young men for the ministry." Here among many with similar aim to his own, he found the opportunities he sought. Although a good student, work- ing his way meant long absences while teaching, and another illness, which was all but fatal, left him much weakened in health, so that his graduation was delayed until 1828, when he took his bachelor's degree with a class of forty, twenty- three of whom were preparing for the ministry.

The following year he entered Newton Theological Sem- inary, where he studied until January, 1830. He then ac- cepted a call to the pastorate of the Baptist church at Cam- bridge, Vermont, and was there ordained to the ministry, January 20, 1830.