An entirely new life now opened to me.

The old bondage of fear of the visible and the invisible was broken and, no longer subject to absolute authority, I rejoiced in the dawn of a new day of freedom in thought and action.
My brother-in-law, Edward Bayard, ten years my senior, was an inestimable blessing to me at this time, especially as my mind was just then opening to the consideration of all the varied problems of life.

To me and my sisters he was a companion in all our amusements, a teacher in the higher departments of knowledge, and a counselor in all our youthful trials and disappointments.

He was of a metaphysical turn of mind, and in the pursuit of truth was in no way trammeled by popular superstitions.

He took nothing for granted and, like Socrates, went about asking questions.