298 JOSEPH HENRY, LL.D. 



upon his lips, singularly in contrast, yet beauti- 

 fully in harmony, with the intellect of the brow 

 above." 



Again she writes : " We were all up until a late 

 hour, reading poetry with father and mother, father 

 being the reader. He attempted -Cowper's Grave,' 

 by Mrs. Browning, but was too tender-hearted to 

 finish the reading of it. We then laughed over 

 the 'Address to the Mummy,' soared to heaven 

 with Shelley's 'Skylark,' roamed the forest with 

 Bryant, culled flowers from other poetical fields, 

 and ended with ' Tarn O'Shanter.' I took for my 

 task to recite a part of the latter from memory, 

 while father corrected, as if he were 'playing 

 schoolmaster.' " 



He was orderly and painstaking in his work, 

 deciding with great caution. Prof. Asa Gray tells 

 a story of his boyhood which well illustrates this. 

 "It goes back to the time when he was first al- 

 lowed to have a pair of boots, and to choose for 

 himself the style of them. He was living with his 

 grandmother, in the country, and the village Crispin 

 could offer no great choice of patterns ; indeed, it 

 was narrowed down to the alternative of round 

 toes or square. Daily the boy visited the shop and 

 pondered the alternatives, even while the manu- 

 facture was going on, until, at length, the shoe- 

 maker, who could brook no more delay, took the 

 dilemma by both horns, and produced the most re- 

 markable pair of boots the wearer ever had ; one 

 boot round-toed, the other square-toed. . . . He 



