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LIFE OF A. P. DOSTIE;

OR,

The Conflict of New Orleans.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY LIFE OF DOSTIE.

Anthony Paul Dostie was born at Saratoga, New York, on the 20th of June, 1821. His father was of French descent; his mother was of German. His an cestry did not descend like that of the Marquis de Lafayette from the French nobility, nor from the German aristocracy, like that of the Baron de Kalb; but the same enthusiastic love of liberty, which animated those heroes of the first American Revolution, burned in the soul of Dostie during the conflict between republican liberty and slavery, which ended in the triumph of Freedom in the Second American Revolution.

The father of Dostie was a barber by trade. He was an honest, industrious man, of vigorous, but unculti

vated intellect. He was a marked character where he lived, noted for his independent bearing, and fearlessness upon all occasions, and respected for his native good sense.

His mother is remembered for her goodness of heart, and industrious habits. These qualities she impressed upon her numerous family, who are all useful American citizens and loyal to republican principles.

The childhood of Dostie was not remarkable for striking events. His education was limited to the advantages of a common public school. Said he, in speaking of those school days, "I was then a lover of the cause of liberty, and often stole away from my companions, to study the lives of those who were devoted to the cause of Freedom.

Generosity of soul, love of liberty, and hatred of oppression characterized the early history of one who was subsequently destined to be a conspicuous victim to the power of oppression.

The intellectual germs implanted in the progressive mind of Dostie were retarded in their development by the influences of his surroundings. Like many of our self-made men, which American history delights to recognize as the upholders of her republican institutions, Dostie, at a period in his life, when his proud spirit longed to be free from every engagement but that of intellectual culture, was restrained by poverty, and compelled to work for his daily bread, in a barber's shop.

America proudly boasts that, upon her historical record, the names of her noblest heroes and martyrs have not always been taken from the ranks of high-born aris.

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