The Days of a Man 1872 



The *- time an unbroken prairie, and was filled with delight 

 broken an( j enthusiasm over the variety and novelty of the 

 praine pi ants w hich grew there. Once before, and only 

 once, had I had a chance at a new flora; that was 

 in 1871, at Niagara Falls, when I visited it with a 

 number of other students. Around about were 

 many plants which had come from farther west, 

 their seeds having been brought down by the water. 

 In the autumn Copeland went as teacher of 

 Natural Science to the Normal School at White- 

 water, Wisconsin, while I proceeded to Galesburg. 

 On the way, however, I attended at Dubuque the 

 meeting of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science. This society, holding its 

 national sessions once (and sometimes twice) each 

 year, has been an institution of great value in bring- 

 ing the young workers in science into the company of 

 its established leaders. 



rbe At Dubuque I first met a number of men of whom 



A.A.A.S. I had often heard but with whom I had not previ- 

 Dvbu ue ous 'y come into direct contact. Most prominent 

 among them was Gray. Some one, I remember, 

 looked out of the window and said: "There goes 

 Asa Gray. If he should say that black was white, 

 I should see it already turning whitish." Another 

 leading figure was James Hall, state geologist of New 

 York, who had been in our laboratory at Cornell 

 and seen my modest work on the brachiopods of 

 northern Brazil, so strangely like similar shells from 

 the Helderberg rocks about Albany. Dr. J. P. 

 Lesley, the geologist, was also conspicuous. His 

 saying that "the college graduate may flourish his 

 diploma, but the world cares little for that baby 

 badge/' has always lingered in my memory, as more 

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