Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/453

 430 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS one of his fellow professors wrote of him: **We shall think of Professor Boot as a hero who wreathed the sword of se- vere science with the myrtle of natural history. He was not the less a mathematician because he loved to be where he could hear the pulse of nature throb. * ' Thus Elihu Boot's childhood was spent in a delightful, scholarly atmosphere. He inherited strong intellectual tend- encies, and everything contributed to strengthen them. At fifteen he entered Hamilton College as a freshman, and graduated four years later, with the class of 1864. His col- lege career was uneventful. It was simply a case of hard work from start to finish. College pranks did not appeal to him as they do to most boys ; and anyway he was too busy. At one time during his junior year there was some trouble with the faculty, and the majority of his classmates rebelled against the college authorities. He may have sympathized with them to some extent, but as his father was a member of the faculty he felt in duty bound to remain loyal to the au- thorities. Besides, he did not feel that he had any time to spare. While those in rebellion were suspended for some weeks, and thus lost considerable valuable time. Boot kept on with his studies. He won first prize in mathematics and was valedictorian of his class. College curriculums in those days were not as broad and as comprehensive as they are now, and Mr. Boot's work in col- lege was confined principally to the classics and mathematics. Nevertheless, these afforded him an excellent basis for ac- quiring an education that was to be of the highest service to him in after years. Moreover, his college training was a very potent factor in forming his character and in shaping his course in life ; and this, after all, is the highest and most im- portant function of a college or university. Elihu Boot's career in college is worthy of the study of any young man or woman who wishes to get the best out of his or her college life and experience. College boys may always be depended upon to provide ap- propriate (or inappropriate) nicknames for professors and students who have any marked peculiarities, and the Boots