16 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-I 



interested in historical studies, and to learn how great 

 principles lie hidden beneath the surface of events. The 

 first of these principles I ever clearly discerned was dur 

 ing my reading of &quot;Quentin Durward&quot; and &quot;Anne of 

 Geierstein, when there was revealed to me the secret 

 of the centralization of power in Europe, and of the tri 

 umph of monarchy over feudalism. 



In my sixteenth and seventeenth years another element 

 entered into my education. Syracuse, as the central city 

 of the State, was the scene of many conventions and pub 

 lic meetings. That was a time of very deep earnestness in 

 political matters. The last great efforts were making, 

 by the more radical, peaceably to prevent the extension 

 of slavery, and, by the more conservative, peaceably to 

 preserve the Union. The former of these efforts interested 

 me most. There were at Syracuse frequent public de 

 bates between the various groups of the anti-slavery 

 party represented by such men as Gerrit Smith, Wendell 

 Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, John Parker Hale, 

 Samuel Joseph May, and Frederick Douglass. They took 

 strong hold upon me and gave me a higher idea of a man s 

 best work in life. That was the bloom period of the old 

 popular lecture. It was the time when lectures were ex 

 pected to build character and increase knowledge; the 

 sensation and buffoon business which destroyed the sys 

 tem had not yet come in. I feel to this hour the good in 

 fluence of lectures then heard, in the old City Hall at 

 Syracuse, from such men as President Mark Hopkins, 

 Bishop Alonzo Potter, Senator Hale of New Hampshire, 

 Emerson, Ware, Whipple, and many others. 



As to recreative reading at this period, the author who 

 exercised the strongest influence over me was Charles 

 Kingsley. His novels &quot;Alton Locke &quot; and &quot; Yeast &quot; in 

 terested me greatly in efforts for doing away with old 

 abuses in Europe, and his &quot;Two Years After&quot; increased 

 my hatred for negro slavery in America, His &quot;West 

 ward Ho!&quot; extended my knowledge of the Elizabethan 

 period and increased my manliness. Of this period, too, 



