1876. J -l"*- [Strong. 



apparently not best adapted, and so Providentially was 

 he led into the profession which he subsequently so 

 much adorned. He had no friends in Philadelphia to 

 advise him, none, at most, sufficiendy acquainted with 

 his peculiar qualifications to advise him judiciously, 

 though he had been told by his step-father that if he 

 selected any of the learned professions, it ought to be 

 the law. 



Among his fellow students in Mr. IngersolPs office 

 were John B. Wallace, who afterwards married his 

 sister, and John Sergeant, both young men of remark- 

 able mental force, and of indomitable ambition, and 

 both of them were, from the commencement of his 

 apprenticeship, his life long friends. Somewhat later 

 he contracted an intimate friendship with Mr. Charles 

 Chauncey which continued unbroken until the latter's 

 death. 



How faithfully he improved the opportunities which 

 Mr. Ingersoll's office afforded him may be inferred 

 from what he had done in college, and may be known 

 from what he was after his call to the bar. He had 

 learned to study, and in study, not in mere reading, he 

 found his chief delight. Of course to him the new 

 science to which his attention was directed, presented 

 attractions above everything else. His steadfast effort 

 was to learn his profession accurately. With this he 

 suffered nothing to interfere, and he firmly resisted all 

 the social temptations which assail young men in large 

 cities. He had resources for recreation within himself. 



