180 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



the important duty of selecting a profession. Quite naturally to a 

 serious and thoughtful mind, the pulpit seemed to present the strongest 

 claims, and accordingly, theological studies are pursued at that distin- 

 guished School of the Prophets, Andover. But before the definite step 

 is taken that would have made him what he gained in another direction, 

 a Reverend, the zeal for teaching took possession of his earnest facul- 

 ties, and, taking up what was then regarded as a lower calling, he 

 devoted his zeal and abilities to raising his chosen vocation to a higher 

 level. 



Fifty years ago, the writer, then a school-boy at Bennington, Vermont, 

 had his firsf acquaintance with Mr. Sheldon, then Principal of the Ben- 

 nington Academy — hardly a personal knowledge, however, for, unfort- 

 unately, I was not a scholar of his, but belonged to a rival school, in 

 which one of the lessons taught was a mean contempt for other insti- 

 tutions. Still, it was apparent to all, that a master mind had the con- 

 trol of the rival academy, and there were certain progressive features 

 there introduced that at least excited our envy, if not our approbation. 

 The impression still remains with me, that for real, solid educational 

 acquirements, the school under Mr. Sheldon was the best. 



At that early day, one who has since become noted as a pulpit and 

 platform orator, Rev. E. H. Chapin, was acting as deputy post-master 

 in that village, and occasionally electrified us smaller boys by his 

 dramatic rendition of Lochiel. 



And so we parted for a while, only to meet again on the western 

 banks of the Mississippi, almost the ultima tliule of our early geog- 

 raphies. 



Mr. Sheldon is next seen exchanging the green hills of Vermont for 

 the wild chasms of the Saranac in North-Eastern New York, at Pots- 

 dam, geologically celebrated by its old red sandstone, one of the lowest 

 of our stratified rocks. Still a teacher, and, no doubt, also a learner, 

 at least the reputation there gained secured him an invitation to the 

 sedate and classical town of Northampton, in the Connecticut Valley. 

 Here, unhampered by jealous rivalry, he threw the whole force of his 

 gifted mind and rich experience into a school distinguished by such 

 scholars as Elizur Wright and others of less note, who continued to 

 look up to Mr. Sheldon as the source of their earliest inspiration. 



But, under this mental strain, even the stalwart form of our Ver- 

 monter gave way, and, at the age of thirty-nine, he was obliged to seek 

 relaxation in travel; at first, to the south, and eventually to the far 

 west, in Iowa. Coming to Burlington in 1850, then the most prominent 



