.4 fouitg Naturalist. 15 



A stronger influence, however, was at hand. When 

 he was eleven years old, Rev. Anthon T. Braun 

 became pastor of the church at Schagticoke. 



The noble example, intellectual attainments, and 

 earnest spirit of Pastor Braun, left their impress on 

 the susceptible spirit of his young parishioner. 

 Parental training had already broken for him the 

 fallow ground, and prepared the mind of the boy 

 for the reception of the good seed. The family dis- 

 cipline of our fathers would, in our day, be con- 

 sidered severe ; yet the reverence of the child for 

 the parent and pastor, did not interfere with mutual 

 love; and childhood was not less happy or buoyant 

 than to day. 



The subject of this memoir tells us, " From my 

 earliest childhood I had an irrepressible desire for the 

 study of Natural History." Alluding to this period, 

 his grandson, the Rev. John B. Haskell, has drawn 

 the following picture : 



" In our mind's eye, we see the little fellow, after 

 the day's work has been done, running off, with 

 rapid stride and beaming face, to wander over the 

 hillsides, where, perchance, he might meet his 

 friends, the squirrels, the chipmunk, or the many 

 feathered fellow-citizens of the wood. 



"Then we see him lying beneath some shady tree 

 upon the bank of a stream watching, w T ith his roving 

 blue eyes, the steady flow of the waters Is he 

 dreaming? Is he poetizing? Nay; for suddenly 

 we see the bright eye brighten in the intensity of 

 its gaze, and following the eager look, we see slowly 



