422 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



His indefatigable performance of this dull clerical business was 

 pathetic to those who watched him thus engaged, and gave them 

 the impulse to throw (in many instances) the illiterate applica- 

 tion into the waste-paper basket, to save his precious strength. 

 Away from his work-table he was methodical to a marked 

 degree. He rose a few minutes before the ringing of the College 

 bell, took a short walk before breakfast, going for his newspaper, 

 possibly stopping at the fruit- vender's to exchange a few words 

 of Italian while selecting his oranges or grapes, and would also 

 look in at his office for a moment to see that the day was well 

 begun. After breakfast he went to Appleton Chapel. The 

 morning service there he regarded as a gate to better health of 

 mind; the reading of the Psalms and the short and pointed 

 address were as a spiritual bath, he said, which prepared a man 

 to run the day's course. From the chapel he proceeded to his 

 college appointments. The sequence of his acts was almost un- 

 failing. He kept his engagements with persistent punctuality ; 

 disinclination, sickness, or other solicitation to shirk the pre- 

 scribed task was treated as non-existent ; not unfrequently he 

 would get up out of a sick bed, find his way to the lecture-hall, 

 and by sheer force of will talk through the hour. The order of 

 his life in other directions was equally well maintained. On 

 election days he went to the polls early, his vote always being 

 among the first half-dozen that were cast. This political duty 

 he never neglected, and while a Democrat, when it was a ques- 

 tion of the better man, he did not stick to his party, but voted 

 for the one who promised to discharge his duties best. His own 

 sense of duty toward town, state, and nation was always keen. 

 In travelling, except for delays, he usually outran his schedule, 

 so that letters directed to be sent to different places at special 

 times were apt to be returned through the dead-letter office. 

 Furthermore the housekeeper who undertook to have repairs 

 done in his absence, or the house cleaned, was almost sure to be 

 caught with the task only half accomplished. 



