450 HENRY WARREN TORREY. 



young man; he might have studied it, read it, or even, as a boy 

 does, written it; then would Mr. Torrey reveal to him, not only 

 how little all this information was, but how infinitely greater and 

 better in kind was the Philosophy of History, — the relation of 

 nation to nation, of period to period, and of all to the mighty 

 scheme of Providence which he saw working through all time. 

 Yet in all this setting forth the great subject in its true perspec- 

 tive, and making the amount of his pupils' knowledge appear 

 very small, there was absolutely nothing unkind, no undervaluing 

 a single real acquirement. On the contrary, he made the value of 

 every pupil's attainments far greater than it would have been had 

 they gone on without him in their own boyish way and spirit. 



This power of lighting up the specific subjects that he treated 

 was nowhere better shown than in his instruction on the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States. Not a few of his pupils have been called 

 upon to serve in positions of authority under that august instrument ; 

 and none of them would deny that they received from his instruc- 

 tions an understanding of their practical duties which no other 

 teacher, public or private, could give. 



But more than one teacher is learned and stimulating, and yet 

 is entirely without two things which were the very life and soul of 

 Mr. Torrey's instruction : first, his affectionate heart, which went 

 out to every pupil who would accept it as to a personal friend; 

 and, secondly, his supreme allegiance to duty, wherewith he tried, 

 in that absolute simplicity which was his nature, to inspire his 

 pupils, as might an elder brother who knew that if they did not 

 follow the way of right they never could accomplish anything 

 worth doing. That nobody could really be a good scholar, or a 

 good historian, without being a good man, was the core of all his 

 teaching; and it was worth while to be under him, if only to learn 

 this one thing. 



Such was the man in the class-room, clinging to the old- 

 fashioned discipline and methods, which he might well think 

 the best, because his own glowing personality had warmed them 

 into a vital force that needed no further kindling from modern 

 devices. There was a certain veil of formality about his pres- 

 ence which might at first deter one from penetrating into a more 

 intimate knowledge. Yet something about his ready smile and 

 his eager manner, never cold though always courteous, encouraged 

 his pupils to bring to him personal requests and difficulties, which 

 were invariably received half-way, and proved the ready key to 



