14 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



his timidity, and he would nervously contribute a re- 

 mark. On such occasions his mother, who was a reti- 

 cent woman, was apt to restrain him ; she did not like 

 forwardness in little boys. It is evident that Vincent 

 Youmans was one of those men who supply an intel- 

 lectual stimulus to the whole community in which they 

 live. For a lad of bright and inquisitive mind listen- 

 ing to such talk is no mean education. It often goes 

 much further than the reading of books. From an 

 early age Edward Youmans appropriated all such 

 means of instruction. He had that ravening, insatiable 

 thirst for knowledge which is one of God's best gifts 

 to man ; for he who is born with this appetite must 

 needs be grievously ill-made in other respects if it 

 does not constrain him to lead a happy and useful 

 life. 



When Edward was about nine years old an event 

 took place which greatly agitated the district. A new 

 schoolhouse had been built, and part of its cost was 

 assessed on a family named Wheeler, which refused to 

 pay. It was then the custom for the cost of maintain- 

 ing district schools to be levied on the families who 

 sent children to them. Families who sent four chil- 

 dren paid twice as much as those who sent two ; child- 

 less families paid nothing. With regard to the manner 

 in which the contributions necessary for building the 

 schoolhouse should be gathered, the law was not 

 clearly understood. The Wheelers pleaded that, as 

 they had no children to send to school, it was as 

 unjust to make them pay toward building a school- 

 house as it would be to oblige them to help maintain 

 a school. Through two years litigation dragged on, 

 when these sturdy " village Hampdens," much out of 

 pocket and quite out of temper, lost their case. In 



