Page:The Whitney Memorial Meeting.djvu/74

60 counsel; but the oldest who was careless or erratic would not escape criticism.

He showed in an unusual degree the love of nature. Long walks were his recreation. The fresh air, the bright skies, the woodlands, the hills, the mountains, the procession of wild flowers, the frozen lakes, the open sea, instructed and inspired him. If he saw a bird, he could imitate its notes; if he heard its voice, he could name the singer. Devoted by choice and by profession to literary pursuits, to the study of the speech and the history of mankind, he maintained a lively interest in the progress of physical science. More than once, for example, he took a part in important geological surveys. It is even more noteworthy that when the Sheffield Scientific School at New Haven, a department of Yale College, was an infant, he watched over its cradle, surpassed in devotion by only one of his colleagues, still engaged in that work. His instructions in French and German were there given for some twenty years. In the organization and development of this new department in an old university, his counsels were wise and constant; while others were in doubt or opposition, he was ready from the first to support openly and heartily the introduction of modern methods and of modern subjects in the courses of a liberal education.

He had a sensitive ear, as well as a discerning eye. This interested him in phonetics, and enabled him to become an exact and discriminating reproducer of the sounds of his own and of foreign tongues. The aptitudes which made him love the music of the woods and groves led him to take part in the music of the