24 Boyhood, Early Schooling, and Teaching 



manhood meant no more, so far as the reality of his religious 

 nature was concerned, than that his high sense of honor and intel- 

 lectual integrity compelled him to reject all narrow orthodoxy. 

 On August 23, 1877, he wrote Viola Holmes concerning his 

 activities in the church; but he added, "it matters not so much 

 where we work, as how." He read sermons of the great pulpit 

 orators. David Swing especially to him presented " such manly 

 expositions of Christianity, as it really is, freed of incrustations." 



He was no more the " pale faced little fellow whose delight was 

 to talk with Ida and Viola [Holmes], and to drink entranced at 

 the wells of knowledge." His sister LiUie had grown to be his 

 "friend and companion, — rare times," he wrote, "we have had 

 together reading Shakspere and the Poets." He was confessedly 

 a hero-worshiper, idolizing persons for " the nobility of their 

 souls " and not " the beauty of their garments." Later he ex- 

 plained, " In my high school days Carlyle had more influence on 

 me than any other prose writer and I am still thankful to the 

 crabbed old Scot for having impressed me so thoroughly with the 

 gospel of work. It has stood me in good stead many a time." 

 The English and American poets were " favorites " and helped 

 to make his high school experience " three delightful years at a 

 time when I should have been through the University." An essay 

 written by him in 1877 points to a considerable influence from the 

 nature symbolism of the poet Coleridge. 



While a student at Ionia high school. Smith edited a small 

 journal. The Castalia. Miss Josephine Williams, his teacher of 

 literature and English, inspired him with her belief in his abilities 

 and his future. During one or two years he was one of several 

 young persons from the country districts who lived together in a 

 rented home in order to defray the expenses of their education. 

 One especially dear friend was Eva Walker. He was a leading 

 debater in the Philomathean Society of the high school, and en- 

 joyed the acquaintance of many students, young and old, who 

 were interested in cultural subjects. 



Science, however, more than literature, was his pole-star in 

 humanity's service. Only a very few of his closest friends and 

 classmates could share his proficiency. The years in Michigan 

 had been busy ones, full " of hope . . . full of good . . . full of 

 toil . . . and more . . . they [had] given [him] a love and a 



