THE YOUNG PROFESSOR 145 
My mother assisted my father a great deal at that time 
by transcribing portions of his translation of the Icono- 
graphic Encyclopedia for the printer. In this, my 
Uncle William Baird, then living in Reading, and one or 
two of the Dickinson College students who were especially 
intimate friends of my father and mother, also assisted. 
‘““My father was only twenty-three years old when 
his nominal professorship became an actual one, with a 
salary of $400.00 a year, which, however, they promised 
to increase the next year; and he was married that same 
summer. Of course, many of the students were very little 
younger than their Professor; indeed I suspect that there 
were some (especially among the poorer ones who had 
had to do something for themselves in order to obtain 
money for their education) who were a little older. He 
was very popular with his class, and in quite a number of 
them inspired a strong and permanent love of his own 
favorite pursuits. In speaking to and of him they usually 
abbreviated his title of ‘Professor’ to ‘ Prof.’; to a number 
of them he remained always ‘The Prof.’ He instituted 
a series of out-door rambles on Saturday afternoon, 
during which collections were made of objects of Natural 
History, and the boys gained practical knowledge from 
Nature herself of great value. This, of course, is very 
customary now; but was a startling innovation at that 
time. They had to be good walkers to keep up with their 
active young preceptor. At the close of the day’s excur- 
sion his companions were very frequently invited to his 
home to share the family tea, at which my grandmother 
Churchill and my mother made them welcome. Two of 
these students, Dr. Caleb B. R. Kennerly and John B. 
Clark (known to his fellow students by the nickname of 
‘Adam’ Clark on account of his proficiency in mathe- 
Io 
