DISCOURSE OF W. B. TAYLOR. 207 



acteristic early developed gave form and color to his mental dispo- 

 sition throughout later years, — an unflagging energy of purpose. 



In 1810, or 1811, when about thirteen years of age, he was ap- 

 prenticed to ISIr. John F. Doty, a watch-maker and silver-smith, 

 in Albany. He remained in this position about two years; when 

 he was released by his employer giving up the business. 



About the year 1814, while a boy of still indefinite aims and of 

 almost as indefinite longings, having been confined to the house for 

 a few days in consequence of an accidental injury, he took up a small 

 volume on Natural Philosophy, casually left lying on a table by a 

 boarder in the house. Listlessly he opened ifc and read. Before he 

 reached the third page, he became profoundly interested in the state- 

 ment of some of the enigmas of the great sphinx — Nature. A new 

 world seemed opening to his inquisitive eyes. Eagerly on he read, — 

 intent to find the hidden meanings of phenomena which hitherto 

 covered by the "veil of familiarity" had never excited a passing 

 wonder or a doubting question. Was it possible ever to discover 

 the real causes of things? Here was a new Ideal — if severer, yet 

 grander than that of art. He no longer read with the languid en- 

 joyment of a passive recipient; he felt the new necessity of reaching 

 out with all the faculties of a thinker, with all the activity of a co- 

 worker.* For the first time he realized (though w4th no conscious 

 expression of the thought) that there is — so to speak, — an imagi- 

 nation of the intellect, as well as of the emotional soul; — that Truth 

 has its palaces no less gorgeous — no less wonderful than those reared 

 by fancy in homage to the Beautiful. 



The new impulse was not a momentary fascination. Thencefor- 

 ward the novel was thrown aside, and poesy neglected ; though to 

 his latest day a sterling poem never failed to strongly impress him. 

 As it dawned upon his reason that the foundation of the coveted 



* " There is a great difference between reading and stMdy, or between the indolent 

 reception of knowledge without labor, and that effort of mind which is always neces- 

 sary in order to secure an important truth and make it fully our own." J. Henry. 

 {Agricultural Rejiort of the Patent Office for 1857, p. t21.) The book wliich so strongly 

 impressed him was entitled "Lectures on Experimental rhilosojihy, Astronomy. 

 : nd Chemistry: by G. Gregory, D. D., Vicar of West-ham.". I2mo. London, 1808. 

 The owner of the Ijook — a young Scotchman named Robert Boyle— observing the 

 close application of the boy, very kindly presented the book to him. Many years 

 afterward Henry wrote in it: " It accidentally fell into my hands when I was about 

 sixteen years old, and was the first book I ever read with attention." 



