RAPID TRANSITION OF THOUGHT 



339 



prosecution, we sojourned twice in Butto, occupying rooms in the same 

 and enjoying, after our professional day's work was done, the oppor- 

 tunity of friendly communion. In these hours of free intercourse, I learned 

 much of his deepest feelings and purposes concerning, not only his contem- 

 plated contributions to physical science, but especially his responsibilities 

 and hopes concerning the moral, as well as intellectual, development of 

 the young men for whom, as the head of the Lawrence Scientific School, he 

 regarded himself as responsible. It was from these conferences that I derived 

 that sense of Professor Shaler's deep religious feeling and motive which will 

 remain permanently associated with my memory of him. In accordance 

 with his own request and initiative, rather than mine, we held many an 

 informal session over the old-fashioned Bible; and I feel myself warranted 

 in saying that, as to the eternal truths which it declares, we found ourselves, 

 after illimitable and thoroughly fearless and unconventional discussion, 

 not far apart. 



In one of his letters, dated Butte, Montana, alluding to the 

 above case, Mr. Shaler writes : " The question is a difficult one, 

 but I hope to compass it without undue strain. I have had a 

 busy day in the mine and on the surface. I shall be very glad 

 to escape from this very tiresome place." And yet it was in the 

 intervals of his taxing professional work there that the second 

 part ("The Rival Queens") of the Elizabeth series was written. 

 His window at the time overlooked a street full of vulgar and 

 even depraved incidents of frontier life ; a stalwart Norwegian 

 working lustily at his blacksmith's forge was the only whole- 

 some human sight his eyes met. But, as he tells us elsewhere, 

 he was curiously independent of what are considered favorable 

 surroundings for mental work. The poetic impulse would often 

 come to him in a flash, even when suffering much pain, or bur- 

 dened with cares. Sometimes while engaged in ordinary con- 

 versation an almost instantaneous transition of thought would 

 take place. 



This instantaneous movement of the mind in professional 

 and other cases, where apparently there had been no time for 

 preparation, enabled him to reach conclusions so swiftly, to 

 pronounce his judgment so decidedly, as to awaken doubt as to 

 its soundness. But it did not take long for the skeptic to find 



