88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ALBANY MEETING 



geology, and other sciences. Most important of all, he had the begin- 

 nings of a professional training as a chemist. His plans for furthei' 

 study had to give way to means of earning ^a livelihood. 



A Year of Teaching 



It was natural for Hayes to turn to teaching as a means of earning 

 money for further study. Therefore, in the fall of 1883 he took charge 

 of the high school at Brecksville, near Cleveland, Ohio. His first im- 

 pressions are recorded in a letter : 



. . . "I have a fine school — thirty-six wide-awake boys and girls. . . . 

 It will keep my hands full, but the work will not be burdensome because I 

 enjoy it." 



A little later he writes : 



"I am about distracted by the variety of subjects I have to teach, and it is 

 something of a strain on one's enthusiasm to keep it up all day. ... I re- 

 gard it as a kind of crucial test, that if I can teach arithmetic, geography, 

 etcetera, with enthusiasm I surely can chemistry." 



While busily engaged in teaching, he yet finds time for studying chem- 

 istry, for he writes of reading Cookers Chemical Philosophy, and his mind 

 is much occupied with his favorite science : 



... "I will have my appetite for laboratory work well whetted up by this 

 year's work." . . . 



His interest in his scholars is unbounded, for he says : 



"We do get along capitally together, and I only wish I had more time and 

 strength to give them. Don't you think it is a fine thing to let the wage take 

 its proper place in the background and do the work for the love of it?" 



Teaching, study of chemistry, and botanical excursions kept Hayes 

 fully occupied at Brecksville, yet his letters have a note of feeling a lack 

 of intellectual companionship. 



"I haven't any fellowship here except with my books and the woods. There 

 are lots of good people here — cautious, shrewd Yankees — with an eye out for 

 the main chance. I am becoming confirmed in my theory of intellectual drain- 

 age; the towns drain the country and the cities the towns. T have come on 

 pretty good terms with a few good books this winter, and have found it excel- 

 lent discipline to have my choice restricted to the books on my own shelf. I 

 think there is something demoralizing in a large library till one has learned 

 thoroughly how to use it." 



