Necrology, 18& 



poring over his self-imposed lessons. He spent four and a half 

 years in the army, and was discharged in November, 1865. He 

 reentered school after returning from the war, and finally spent 

 one year in the Michigan Normal at Ypsilanti before beginning 

 his career as a teacher. 



On January 1, 1872, he married Mary Adams, and came to Kan- 

 sas soon after. He and his brother John started a nursery in Bar- 

 ton county, but adverse weather conditions and the grasshoppers 

 destroyed their stock entirely, so both brothers secured schools 

 and began teaching. In 1880 he became a member of the Kansas 

 Academy of Science, and was actively interested in the Society 

 until his death. He served as librarian from 1886 to 1902. He 

 was made curator of the Goss Collection in 1893, and has held the 

 position through all the various political changes that occurred 

 during the twenty years. He was well posted on such a variety of 

 subjects that he was constantly consulted by others in the building, 

 who knew and appreciated his ability to give a satisfactory reply 

 to their questions. He was also professor of botany in the Kansas 

 Medical College from 1890 to 1895. 



Botany, geology and mathematics were all of absorbing interest 

 to him, and at thejtime of his death he was working on manuscripts 

 in each of these subjects. The most important of his later papers, 

 "A Provisional List of Kansas Plants," is now being published in 

 the Academy reports. In this he was assisted by Mrs. L. O. R. 

 Smyth, to whom he was married June 12, 1906. His first wife and 

 the mother of his three children had died in 1893. The youngest son, 

 Eugene, is a member of the Academy, and is engaged in scientific 

 work in government employ, and bids fair to be a worthy son of 

 his father, from whom he had his early training. 



Professor Smyth was a man of retiring manners, gentle and 

 kindly, especially with children, many of whom have a lasting 

 memory of him. "He was my friend," said a ragged little urchin 

 in the Museum as his eyes filled with tears on learning of his 

 death. "I used to come in to see him lots of times, and he told 

 me all about things." Dumb animals loved him, and he taught 

 others to be kind to the lower forms of life, for they too have their 

 place in the great world as well as man. He was tolerant of the 

 opinions of others, but held himself rigidly to the ideals of manly 

 virtue and clean living that had been taught him by his good 

 mother in early childhood. He is missed in his home and among 

 his associates, and his memory will endure as a man worthy of love 

 and esteem. 



