Hi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



past. I recall seeing him one day pouring over a huge tome 

 in Latin, and jocosely enquired of him what musty, dusty bit 

 of erudition he was ferreting out at the moment. He imme- 

 diately proceeded to translate a passage, which, if my memory 

 serves me after so long a lapse of time, was a disquisition on 

 the possibilities of a self-propelled air-ship. He himself be- 

 lieved it was possible, and enthusiastically declared that some 

 day it would be accomplished ! This was nearly forty years 



ago! , . . 



Andrew was always ready to put himself at one's disposi- 

 tion upon any point of research. He was thorough, pains- 

 taking and keen upon the scent, never resting satisfied with 

 half results. He relished the quest and enjoyed the conquest 

 immensely. One of his most characteristic traits, which I 

 learned to appreciate in those days, was his whole-hearted 

 faculty of giving himself for others. He was essentially a 

 giver and delighted in the giving. He would drop his own 

 task at any moment and take up yours. I never went into 

 the college library when he was there but I found him eager 

 to assist me, and his help was valuable, for he always knew 

 where to go for the nugget requisitioned. He would even 

 push the enquiry beyond the immediate demand, and bring 

 up more riches than one might need for the purpose of the 

 moment. His enjoyment of discovery was enhanced a thou- 

 sandfold by yours. The source of his delight was not so 

 much that he had achieved or had helped to achieve the task 

 but that it had been achieved at all. At such times his face 

 would light up with pleasure and one could not fail to catch the 

 glow of his enthusiasm. He had scientific interests also. 

 While in the lower school at Georgetown he was always work- 

 ing at photography, making many experiments, first with an 

 old camera of his father's, afterwards with a better instrument. 



In 1879 the editorship of the "Vienna Times" was ofifered 

 him. Vienna itself was three miles away, but when the office 

 appurtenances had been delivered and put into place in one 

 of the innumerable outbuildings belonging to every Virginia 

 farm, Vienna seemed to have been transferred to Springvale. 

 The "Vienna Times" was not a "patent insides" journal. It 

 was set up in type and printed in the little office at the end 

 of the yard, and in rush times, or when the letters of the 

 correspondents in far corners of the country were late com- 



