Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/860

838 air, and has always taken exercise. So, in spite of his long years of hard work, he is now in perfect health. His success has not changed him in the least. He is always ready to help those who want to learn anything from him.

His writings have appeared mainly in astronomical magazines and in the Government reports of the work done in the Naval Observatory. They are all the results of practical astronomical work, and are mostly of a technical character. Consequently, they are of little interest to general readers. He has often been asked to write something for popular reading, but up to this time he has never consented to do so, thinking that there is already enough of such literature.

Prof. Hall is a self-made man. His life has not been an easy one. Every bit of his education, every one of his successes, has been gained by his own hard work. It was a steady uphill pull from the time he was thirteen years old until his appointment at Washington. In his younger days he saw many hard times. During a large share of that part of his life he had only one good suit of clothes in his possession. He and his wife were obliged to save every penny. From his early training and from such experience his habits were formed. Naturally they are of the simplest kind. He does not care for the luxuries of modern life. The comforts of a plain home are all he wants. He still lives almost as simply as when he was earning three dollars a week under Prof. Bond. He has never cared for society merely for its own sake, but he has been prominent in scientific circles. He is a quiet man who never pushes himself forward; yet, when he has anything to say, people are glad to listen to it.

In his ideas on politics, science, and religion he is liberal and yet conservative—that is to say, he has no objection to letting other people have their own thoughts and live their own lives. He can see no reason why science and real religion can not be reconciled. His views on religion and politics are sound. He does not care, however, to have anything to do with politics. He hates its corruption, meanness, and party quarreling. He has always been a little conservative in his scientific life. He has never been led into wild theories of no value. His work has been solid, earnest, and thorough, and will last forever. He is a widely read man, fond of study. He loves his work; so now, since his retirement in 1891, he continues his studies and investigations. He lives a quiet, simple life at his home in Washington, still advancing the cause of astronomy.