204 SAMUEL FINLET BEEESE MORSE. 



doing one thing at a time, and never putting off 

 anything till to-morrow that could be done to-day.' 

 This steady and undissipated attention to one 

 object is a sure mark of a superior genius, as 

 hurry, bustle, and agitation are the never-failing 

 symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind." 



At this early age Finley pored over Plutarch's 

 "Lives of Illustrious Men," and resolved, as 

 many another boy from reading these volumes, to be 

 somebody. There is scarcely a more important 

 thing for a child than that parents should put into 

 his or her hands stimulating and helpful books. 

 When Finley was thirteen, he wrote a sketch of the 

 " Life of Demosthenes," and sent it to his father. 



At fourteen he was admitted to the Freshman 

 class at Yale, but did not attend college till the 

 following year. He was a good scholar in geom- 

 etry and history, but was especially fond of nat- 

 ural philosophy and chemistry. Under Professor 

 Jeremiah Day he began to study electricity, and 

 witnessed the following experiments with great 

 interest : " Let the fluid pass through a chain, or 

 through any metallic bodies placed at small dis- 

 tances from each other, the fluid in a dark room 

 will be visible between the links of the chain, or 

 between the metallic bodies. ... If the circuit 

 be interrupted by several folds of paper, a perfo- 

 ration will be made through it, and each of the 

 leaves will be protruded by the stroke from the 

 middle to the outward leaves." 



Writing upon this subject sixty years afterward, 



