The writer first met Omar L・KiLborn in the fall of 1881 . He was then entering on his second Year at High School, in the town of Athens. Ontario. His native village was about 20 miles distant. His father and mother were dead, but evidently had left sufficient patrimony to their younger son to meet his school ex- penses . Though thus provided, he lived economically, and even augmented his funds by becoming an expert in telegraphy・ and spending a vacation or two in Montreal, in one of the larger foreign news transmitting offices.