“I wish I might get away from the world and live as a hermit! Then I would in a way be unsexed, and would be so regarded by the world.
“People see that I am an effeminate youth! An effeminate youth! And my sister has often expressed her disgust for that type! Who can like them?
“I feel that there is nothing which can henceforth give me interest in life! I feel so mortified that I am a girl-boy! Oh it looks as if there were no God!”
At fifteen I developed into a religious prodigy. Until my debut as a quasi-public female-impersonator at nineteen, I, though the most melancholy person of my community, was active in church work. During these four years, I attended seven religious services a week (exclusive of college chapel every morning during two of these years) and from fifteen to seventeen, spent two hours a day in private devotions in addition. As early as fifteen, I was the leader of prayer meetings. I preached from the pulpit a dozen times at nineteen—a few months before I relinquished all Church work because instinct drove me to female-impersonation. All the ultra-pious of my ultra-puritan entourage predicted for me a great career as a herald |My Life’s Motto.| of Christianity—to which vocation I had already at fifteen dedicated my life.
Thus as early as fifteen, I was frequently called upon to lead the congregation in extemporaneous prayer. Usually my keynote (for my private prayers as well) was my life’s motto, which I adopted at fifteen:
“My times are in Thy hand,
Whatever they may be;
Pleasing or painful,
Dark or bright,