SIR ISAAC NEWTON 



N honest farmer, neither rich nor poor, 

 was Isaac Newton. He was married to 

 Harriet Ayscough in February, 1642. 

 Both were strong, intelligent and full of 

 hope. Neither had any education to speak 

 of they belonged to England's middle 

 class that oft despised and much ridi- 

 culed middle class which is the hope of 

 the world. Accounts still in existence 

 show that their income was thirty pounds 

 a year. It was for them to toil all the 

 week, go to church on Sunday, and twice 

 or thrice in a year attend the village fairs 

 or indulge in a holiday where hard cider 

 played an important part. 

 Isaac had served his two years in the 

 army, taken a turn at the sea, and got his 

 discharge papers. Now he had married 

 the lass of his choice, and settled down in 

 the little house on an estate in Lincoln- 

 shire where his father was born and died. 

 Q Spring came, and the roses clambered 

 over the stone walls; bobolinks played 

 hide and seek in the waving grass of the 

 meadows ; the skylarks sang and poised 

 and soared; the hedge-rows grew white 

 with hawthorne blossoms and musical 

 with the chirp of sparrows ; the cattle 



65 



