JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 9 



ganised he soon found himself in advance of any of its classes. He 

 then formed the resolution of studying by himself. The persevering 

 and indomitable student may not have judiciously selected his 

 studies ; but his work in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry was 

 successful and satisfactory. His studies in mental and moral phi- 

 losophy and his general reading in history were less profitable, 

 perhaps; but his progress in Latin compensated for the deficiency. 



During the winter of 1856 he taught school in Clinton, De 

 Witt County, Illinois, and received sixty dollars per month. At 

 the little stone school-house he had received fourteen dollars per 

 month, and in the school near Decatur, thirty dollars per month, 

 and his increased salary of sixty dollars per month seemed to him 

 a large amount. The next year he attended classes in Jackson- 

 ville College, Illinois, studying Latin and Greek, reviewing trig- 

 onometry and attending lectures in chemistry. 



His father had always desired that his son should go to Ober- 

 lin, and at last in deference to that strongly expressed wish, he 

 entered Oberlin College in 1857. Being far advanced in the scien- 

 tific branches of study, he now devoted himself chiefly to Greek 

 and Latin, studying botany also during the spring term. There 

 was no winter school at Oberlin at that time, as the faculty be- 

 lieved the interests of the pupils were subserved by a vacation 

 which would enable them to teach during the winter months. Con- 

 sequently Mr. Powell returned to Wheaton, entered school there, 

 and remained a year. During all this time his studies had been 

 irregular, but he was in a position where he could graduate in any 

 western college by a few months' application. 



For several years he had given all his attention to botany and 

 zoology. He had an herbarium of many thousand plants, and a 

 large collection of lacustrine river and land shells, and quite a large 

 cabinet of the reptiles found in Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan. One 

 spring day he went through the village of Wheaton with a basket 

 containing some glass fruit-cans, to be used as specimen jars, on 

 his way to the woods for the purpose of collecting snakes. As he 

 passed a group of men they asked him where he was going. His 

 reply was that he needed another rattlesnake in his collection. As 

 it happened he found a rattlesnake that day, and on his return 

 through the village at night, with the live reptile in a glass jar, he 

 chanced to meet the same gentlemen with whom he had been talk- 

 ing in the morning. This mere accident led to a curious and rather 

 fabulous story, to the effect that he was acquainted with the homes 

 of all the animals, knew their habits, and could at any time find 



