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friend drew attention to the fact, that they could not 

 make bricks in Connecticut. Professor Alexander 

 immediately explained the cause, and when he was 

 asked, how he came to know so much about it, he said, 

 that he had entered a brick-yard in Baltimore, and 

 worked a month at the trade, until he had thoroughly 

 acquired the art. Here we have the embryo lawyer, 

 the profound mathematician, the erudite scholar, the 

 accomplished theologian, the writer of works exhaus- 

 tive of the subjects on which he wrote, and the poet 

 a maker of bricks in the brick-yards of Baltimore, 

 that he might be practically acquainted with the sub- 

 ject. 



Perhaps you may say, that all this looks wondrously 

 like the fables of some dreamer; and despite of my 

 protestations of seeking to describe truthfully the 

 character you gave me as my theme, you may be 

 tempted to charge me with extravagant panegyric. 

 But I ask, that the man, among you, who is incredu- 

 lous, disprove my facts, or else grant with me, that 

 the truth is frequently far more wonderful than fable. 

 I do not hesitate, here in the presence of the most 

 learned of this fraternity, to express my firm belief, 

 that at the time of his death, a superior intellect was 

 not embodied in this country. 



He possessed every quality of mind that constitutes 

 true mental greatness judgment, memory, imagina- 

 tion, quickness of comprehension, an industry that 

 never flagged, and a system that nothing disturbed. 

 His memory retained all it touched. To consult him 

 on any question was to be satisfied without the neces- 

 sity to look for authority. It was already at hand. 

 He was the most rapid reader. The operations of his 

 mind were almost intuitive. I was often in earlier 

 years, and occasionally in later, accustomed to study 



