10 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-I 



attention to English grammar. The order ought to be, 

 literature first, and grammar afterward. Perhaps there 

 is no more tiresome trifling in the world for boys and 

 girls than rote recitations and parsing from one of the 

 usual grammatical text-books. 



As to mathematics, arithmetic was, perhaps, pushed 

 too far into puzzles ; but geometry was made fascinating 

 by showing its real applications and the beauty of its 

 reasoning. It is the only mathematical study I ever loved. 

 In natural science, though most of the apparatus of 

 schools nowadays was wanting, Mr. Allen s instruction 

 was far beyond his time. Never shall I forget my ex 

 cited interest when, occasionally, the village surgeon came 

 in, and the whole school was assembled to see him dis 

 sect the eye or ear or heart of an ox. Physics, as then 

 understood, was studied in a text-book, but there was 

 illustration by simple apparatus, which fastened firmly 

 in my mind the main facts and principles. 



The best impulse by this means came from the prin 

 cipal of the academy, Mr. Oren Root, one of the pio 

 neers of American science, whose modesty alone stood in 

 the way of his fame. I was too young to take direct in 

 struction from him, but the experiments which I saw him 

 perform led me, with one or two of my mates, to construct 

 an excellent electrical machine and subsidiary apparatus; 

 and with these, a small galvanic battery and an extempor 

 ized orrery, I diluted Professor Root s lectures with the 

 teachings of my little books on natural philosophy and 

 astronomy to meet the capacities of the younger boys in 

 our neighborhood. 



Salient among my recollections of this period are the 

 cries and wailing of a newly-born babe in the rooms at 

 the academy occupied by the principal, and adjacent to 

 our big school-room. Several decades of years later I had 

 the honor of speaking on the platform of Cooper Insti 

 tute in company with this babe, who, as I write, is, I be 

 lieve, the very energetic Secretary of War in the Cabinet 

 of President McKinley. 



