6 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



such mollusks as were available were also gathered and several hundred 

 insects. Best of all, I knew the technical names of nearly all except the 

 insects, of which, however, I knew many. The local minerals and rocks 

 found place on the shelves of my little museum, for which a small room was 

 kindly provided by my parents, and which I equipped with shelves and a 

 flat table case for insects. In addition there were rows of bottles containing 

 the products of my boyish experiments with such cheap chemicals as I could 

 afford to purchase at the neighboring drug stores, each duly labeled with its 

 proper chemical formula. The whole was amateurish in the extreme, and 

 represented merely a superficial acquaintance with a wide range of subjects, 

 but enough to add immensely to the pleasure of living, giving, as it did, the 

 sense of being in touch with the plant and animal life and the geological 

 features of my immediate environment. My notebooks contained pages 

 of descriptions of unusual atmospheric phenomena, from the prismatic 

 tints of fleecy clouds floating past the midday sun, haloes, unusual storm 

 conditions, auroral displays, and the August and November shooting-star 

 periods, to the varied forms of the snow crystals of a winter storm — things 

 for the most part unobserved by my friends and neighbors, and which 

 hence gave them no added joy to living. 



It is needless to say that my interest in every day practical affairs was 

 limited to a conscientious and cheerful discharge of the obligations natural 

 to my position as a helper to my father in the routine of farm work. Every 

 spare moment of the day when in the house was spent in my room poring 

 over books or specimens or jotting down things seen out of doors in the 

 corn or hay field. These constant disappearances when off duty were 

 naturally an annoyance to my father, who could not appreciate my ab- 

 sorption in such unpractical affairs. To the oft-made inquiry of my Father, 

 "Where's Asaph?" was Mother's gentle response, "upstairs," and the 

 contemptuous paternal rejoinder: "Upstairs; he's always 'upstairs.'" 

 Although unappreciative of his son's "foolish notions," he was not harsh 

 or unkind, as an agreement, lasting for several seasons, granting one day 

 a week for the prosecution of my hobbies is ample evidence. For these 

 foibles my mother had always a degree of sympathy, which increased as 

 years passed to active influence in their behalf. 



To demonstrate my hearty interest in forwarding the farm work, I 

 often as I afterwards found, exerted myself beyond my proper physical 

 endurance, which with the absorption in my natural history work told 

 heavily on my health. It was often necessary in the busy season for my 

 father to employ day laborers and it was always my ambition to "lead the 

 field," which I was always able to do except in the heavier work, even when 

 a young boy just entering the teens. My evening task, before retiring, was 



