2 GALILEO GALILEI. 



become a dealer in cloth ; a necessity of life, rather 

 than a luxury. 



But the boy soon showed great skill in music, 

 surpassing his father. He excelled in drawing and 

 color, and could have become a noted artist. He 

 loved poetry, and had a decided taste for mechan- 

 ics, making machines of great ingenuity. It soon 

 became evident that such a lad would not be satis- 

 fied to spend his life trading in wool. 



He must be educated, but how ? The family had 

 moved from Pisa, where there were schools of 

 repute, to Florence. An effort .had to be made, by 

 the greatest economy, to prepare Galileo to go 

 back to the Pisan University. He showed great 

 aptitude for Latin and Greek, and at seventeen 

 was ready for Pisa. 



For what profession should he study ? Not what 

 best suited his tastes, but that in which his father 

 thought he could make money, medicine. Poor 

 Vincenzo ! who can blame him that he hated pov- 

 erty for his brilliant son ? 



At college, Galileo became an ardent student of 

 philosophy, and because he dared to think for him- 

 self, and did not always agree with the teachings 

 of Aristotle, he was called "the wrangler." Until 

 he was twenty he was scarcely acquainted with 

 the rudiments of mathematics, because his father 

 thought this study was a waste of time for a man 

 who was to become a physician. How many par- 

 ents make the mistake of bending their children 

 to their own plans, instead of ascertaining what a 



