Page:F. R. (Fairman Rogers) 1833-1900, Furness, 1903.djvu/16

Rh the grandfather; they reappear emphasized, if possible, in the grandson.

Fairman Rogers's father, sprung from a sturdy Pennsylvania stock which claims descent from John Rogers, 'the Martyr,' was an unyielding disciplinarian, and, while indulging his son in whatever wealth can give, inculcated those principles of moral restraint, exactitude in method, and precision in details which were afterward so marked a feature in the son's career. Through the boy's mother, a woman of rare personal beauty, was transmitted, with no loss in the transmission, a heritage from Gideon Fairman of a serenity of temper which none of the vexations of life could ever ruffle.

Under such influences the young lad grew up, disclosing from his earliest years a bent for mechanical devices; and was admired, caressed, and loved by all who knew him; he was fond of riding, of dancing, of swimming, of skating; his abbreviated, customary name, 'Fair,' lent itself readily in his childhood to the endearing and equally appropriate 'Fairy.' Competent as he was in many directions, he was most apt in Physics and Mechanics. Even while yet a school-boy, before he was admitted to college, he gave, at the request of his school-teacher, a lecture to his schoolmates on the electric telegraph, illustrated by means of wires attached to the walls and ceiling of the schoolroom. The exact date of this truly precocious