LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Chap. Va^ Copyright No.... 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
JOEI. DORMAN STEELF. 
 From Crayon 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Teacher and Author 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. GEORGE ARCHIBALD 
 
 " So, when a good man dies, 
 For years beyond his ken 
 The light he leaves behind him lies / 
 
 Upon the paths of men." ^ 
 
 Longfellow 
 
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 NEW YORK 
 
 A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY 
 
 1900 
 
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 l_ibr«ry of Congrress 
 
 Two Copies Recei^^ed 
 JUL 13 1900 
 
 Copyright ««try 
 
 SECOND COPY. 
 
 Delivered to 
 
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 Copyright, 1900 
 By a. S. Barnes and Company 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS . JOHN WILSON 
 AND SON . CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
<-^ 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO the systematic habits and affectionate fore- 
 thought of Joel Dorman Steele and Esther 
 Baker Steele, his wife, those who would know 
 something of his life and teachings are indebted 
 for accuracy of dates and illustration of character- 
 istics made possible in this biography, edited 
 thirteen years after his death. It was Dr. Steele's 
 custom to date and preserve in excellent order 
 for reference all press notices of the public events 
 with which he was connected ; to record every 
 personal change of location, his frequent journey- 
 ings, and the progress of his different literary 
 labors ; and to file with care all important letters 
 belonging to the consideration and business de- 
 tails of his plans. Meantime, Mrs. Steele, for 
 reasons of sentiment, kept everything in the 
 nature of correspondence which came to her 
 from her husband during their twenty-seven years 
 of married life. 
 
 As soon as Dr. Steele by the originality of his 
 school system and the fame of his text books be- 
 came extensively known, he found himself, like 
 
 iii 
 
Preface 
 
 all men of note, the subject of frequent newspaper 
 sketches, and he was often called upon by writers 
 who requested facts and incidents pertaining to 
 his history. Of personal publicity, however, he 
 was wary, knowing that simple statements often 
 suffered the common fate of facts — perversion 
 from the original truth. It thus occurred that as 
 time passed and it became evident that his hold 
 on life was increasingly precarious, his wife, among 
 other things which she sadly pondered in her 
 heart, thought of the growing call for fuller 
 particulars in reference to his life, and of the in- 
 sufficiency of anything ever written. And she 
 sometimes urged him to set down in order enough 
 of personal experience for a story that would be 
 satisfactory to his friends. 
 
 On the afternoon of May 14, 1886, his fif- 
 tieth and last birthday, Dr. and Mrs. Steele went 
 for their usual daily drive over the beautiful hills 
 which overlook the Chemung Valley. Chatting 
 about the anniversary, its home observance, the 
 telegrams, and unexpected gifts from various 
 friends outside the family, he remarked that he 
 had been preparing a gift to his wife for that day, 
 but had not been well enough to complete it. 
 She laughingly responded that though it was not 
 usual to make presents on one's own birthday, she 
 was curious to know what he had intended for her. 
 He then announced that since his return from 
 Florida, three weeks before, he had been making 
 
Preface 
 
 a sketch for the autobiography she had so much 
 desired, but that the need for haste had hampered 
 and the excessive recurrence of the personal pro- 
 noun had repelled him, and he feared he should 
 have neither time nor strength to finish it or shape 
 it as he wished. Mrs. Steele, having always a 
 half-conscious foreboding of the coming shadow, 
 and feeling the value of even the merest outline, 
 expressed her delight at his intention, and begged 
 him to complete the sketch, offering to transpose 
 it afterward into a proper literary form and thus 
 relieve him from further responsibility. It was, 
 therefore, so agreed upon between them. i 
 
 Eleven days later, and before Mrs. Steele had 
 seen the still unfinished sketch, the sudden sum- 
 mons came. The shock of bereavement long 
 unfitted her for the sacred duty. Meanwhile a 
 host of business cares and various book revisions 
 overtaxed her time and strength. And always, 
 when in any pause of work or access of energy 
 she turned toward the pathetic task, she found 
 herself by reason of her overwhelming sorrow 
 peculiarly unnerved and incapacitated. 
 
 Finally, after many attempts to settle to the 
 undertaking, and constant repetition of the dis- 
 comfiture of grief, she put her mass of material 
 into the hands of another with the expectation 
 of issuing the memorial book on the tenth anni- 
 versary of her husband's death. Three years 
 afterward, the volume being still unfinished, the 
 
Preface 
 
 material was recalled with a renewed resolve to 
 undertake a personal preparation. And still af- 
 fliction, as before, touched by the hand of retro- 
 spect, wakened to its first intensity and prevented 
 her. 
 
 The year 1899 saw the conveying of Mrs. 
 Steele's magnificent gift to the city of Elmira, 
 N. Y., " The Steele Memorial Library," erected by 
 her in remembrance of her husband. Determin- 
 ing to make the book a part of this memorial 
 offering, she now intrusted it to one who, while 
 realizing that such an achievement is worthy a 
 service of highest equipment, has brought in its 
 stead only sincerity, appreciation, and affectionate 
 remembrance. 
 
 By virtue of this, however, it is offered to those 
 for whom it is designed with a good degree of 
 confidence, for in it will be found an honest story, 
 being mostly a revelation of the man it concerns 
 in his own words, through letters and otherwise. 
 Such an ingenuous disclosure of his everyday 
 habit of mind in its various moods, times, and 
 circumstances, cannot but be welcome to his many 
 friends and to the students of his books in every 
 state of the Union. 
 
 VI 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Preface v 
 
 Introduction : Autobiographical xi 
 
 Twenty Years' Work — List of Books . . xxxiii 
 
 Chapter 
 
 I. The Good Fortune of Birth .... i 
 
 II. The Growing Teacher 8 
 
 III. The Marriage of True Minds . . .' 15 
 
 IV. "War's Red Techstone" 22 
 
 V. At Newark 31 
 
 VI. Elmira Free Academy 41 
 
 VII. School Government 50 
 
 VIII. The Teacher's Aim 68 
 
 IX. The Making of Books 86 
 
 X. The Histories 94 
 
 XI. The Critics 105 
 
 XII. The Traveller 118 
 
 XIII. The Home-Keeping Heart 133 
 
 XIV. As Others saw Him 142 
 
 XV. The Talent for Industry 151 
 
 XVI. Life's Immortal Beauty 164 
 
 XVII. From his Desk i79 
 
 XVI 1 1. History of Science Teaching .... 190 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATION'S 
 
 Joel Dorman Steele Frontispiece 
 
 From Crayon. _ „ 
 
 Facing Page 
 
 Joel Dorman Steele 46 1/ 
 
 From Marble Bust by Conkey. 
 
 Working Library Corner, Mr. Steele's Home 
 
 AT Elmira 140 ^^ 
 
 Steele Memorial Library, Elmira 166 1/ 
 
 Steele Memorial Library, Reading Room . . 170 1/ 
 Steele Memorial Library, Alcoves and 
 
 Gallery 176'' 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 THE sketch which follows was jotted down at inter- 
 vals during the last month of Dr. Steele's life, 
 and is here given just as his pen left it on the day of his 
 death. It was found inclosed in a cover marked, 
 *' Written to please my personal friends." To them it is 
 especially presented : 
 
 I was born at Lima, N. Y., on May 14, 1836. My 
 father, Rev. Allen Steele, was then preaching in Rochester, 
 but my mother was visiting my uncle, a physician in Lima. 
 
 By a singular coincidence, I thus came into the world at 
 the foot of the hill on which I afterward spent so many 
 happy days in laying the basis of my education, and from 
 which I took my flight as a full-fledged A.B. Lima has 
 therefore a double interest to me. 
 
 My early life partook of the variety incident to one whose 
 father was a Methodist itinerant. I have been told that in 
 the first twelve years, or thereabout, of my life, we lived in 
 fourteen houses. At one time, in Lockport, owing to the 
 scarcity of dwellings available, we shared the county jail 
 with the sheriff. Lockport is memorable to me as the place 
 where I wore my first pair of boots, and this is the first 
 count in my life of which I have any recollection. It must 
 have been about 1839 or 1840. The satisfaction I felt in 
 
 xi 
 
Introduction 
 
 tramping down the aisle of tlic church in my new foot-gear 
 is yet a residuum in my brain-cells. 
 
 In 1845, my father moved to Albany. Here my education 
 was begun in earnest. I became a pupil of Charles Anthon, 
 in the Boys' Classical Institute. In this school, famous in 
 those days for its strictness and thoroughness, I laid the 
 foundation of my Latin most carefully and accurately, 
 though every stone was watered with my tears. Two years 
 later we went to Troy, where in the Boys' Academy I 
 pursued my studies further, beginning also Greek and 
 French. My outside reading, chiefly of travels, became 
 quite extended, and for the first, I felt the real zest of a 
 student's love of work. 
 
 At this time I experienced my first deep craving after a 
 spiritual life, and, boy as I was, I gave my heart to God. 
 It was a solemn consecration that has never entirely lost its 
 force or meaning in shaping my character. It was not a 
 common thing in those days to receive a child of twelve 
 years into the church. I saw that my father hesitated 
 somewhat to take this unusual step. He left action with 
 me, saying I must do what I judged best. I desired 
 to join on probation, and on Thursday evening, after the 
 prayer meeting, I presented myself at the altar. My father 
 explained my views, traversed his own early experience, 
 asserted the fact and possibility of child conversion, ex- 
 plained his convictions upon this subject in a most power- 
 ful and long remembered exhortation, and then extended to 
 me the fellowship of the church. I was cordially welcomed 
 by the people, yet I was the only child present at the meet- 
 ings, and I felt that my admission had required an apology, 
 and was largely due to my father's character and promi- 
 nence. I saw also that mine was considered an anomalous 
 case of grace ; that I was like one " born out of due 
 season; " and that I was watched and coddled accordingly. 
 
 My father, feeling that my constitution needed the strength 
 to be gained only by outdoor work, now purchased a farm 
 near Batavia, Genesee County, N. Y. Here for a time I 
 spent my summers in steady labor, while the winters were 
 
 xii 
 
Introduction 
 
 devoted to study. I acquired a good knowledge of farm 
 work, gained some physical vigor, and a little mental 
 development. I was fond of gunning, and divided my 
 leisure quite impartially between reading and hunting. I 
 was somewhat famed as a marksman, and I remember that 
 a gunsmith exhibited in his window a mass of some bullets 
 that I had welded together back of the bull's-eye in the 
 body of a tree where the shots lodged. 
 
 In November 1851, I experienced the first great sorrow of 
 my life in the death of my mother. Yet its keenness was 
 much lessened by the fact that at the time I was so ill with 
 typhoid fever that the knowledge of my loss was kept from 
 me until I surmised it from the saddened and pitying looks 
 of those around me. Still my benumbed feelings were so 
 torn with anguisli that for days my life was in great danger. 
 In fact, on November 9th, my father was called out of the 
 pulpit, in the midst of his sermon, to come to my bedside 
 to see me die. But, through a gracious Providence, the 
 powerful remedies administered by a daring physician 
 proved successful and I was restored to health once more. 
 
 I taught my first school, a common country district school, 
 in the summer of 1853. My wages were twenty shillings 
 per week, and I boarded around in the good old fashion. 
 I taught according to my knowledge, and honestly tried to 
 do my duty by my pupils and patrons. But I was only 
 seventeen years old, and never having come myself under 
 the training of a great and true teacher, I had no conception 
 of the dignity of my calling, or the weight of its responsi- 
 bility. No tired pupil or bedraggled ditch-digger ever 
 watched more eagerly for the clock to mark the close of his 
 day's labor than I did in the master's seat of that old red 
 school-house. 
 
 When harvest time came, I gladly closed the door behind 
 me and went home to swing the cradle and bind the wheat 
 in my father's fields. The trustees of the school, resenting 
 my absence, hired a new teacher, and I made no complaint. 
 In fact, I was glad to be thus easily saved from the neces- 
 sity of returning to the detested spot and work, 
 xiii 
 
Introduction 
 
 (In a lecture entitled, " Hints to Young Teachers," I have 
 given a rdsumd of my methods of work at this time. The 
 statements there made are all real, save that I took a 
 " poet's license " and combined in the description an account 
 of my second school, taught three years later, and during 
 the winter. I was then more successful, and more intelligent, 
 but still equally ignorant of educational methods and the 
 true end of teaching.) 
 
 In the spring of 1854, my father sold his farm, and I 
 joined him in New York where he was pastor of the Red- 
 ding Methodist Episcopal Church. After a thorough ex- 
 amination, I was appointed assistant book-keeper in the 
 Broadway Bank. I remained there only a short time. 
 The work of transcribing and adding interminable columns 
 of figures held out to me little promise of ever reaching the 
 kind of life 1 had already begun to hope for, and I gladly 
 resigned my place to accept an offer of a clerkship in the 
 " Advocate " office at the Methodist Book Concern, then 
 No. 200 Mulberry Street. My labor brought me in contact 
 with intelligent, progressive young men, and I found it very 
 agreeable. After a while, I was trusted to write brief 
 reviews of current books, receiving a copy of the book for 
 my pay. Already, in my leisure hours, 1 had begun to 
 prepare articles for the press, and had experienced the 
 unspeakable pleasure a young author feels, when he first 
 sees his thoughts exhibited in fair type on clean white 
 paper. 
 
 One evening in September 1854, Rev. Dr. Phillips, of the 
 book firm of Carlton and Phillips, took my arm as I left the 
 office, and walked up Broadway with me. I soon saw that 
 he had an object in view. Suddenly he exclaimed, " Dorman, 
 you must go to college ! " I hesitated and argued in 
 opposition, but he brushed away every objection, and in- 
 sisted that I should lay the project before my father im- 
 mediately. 1 finally yielded. On talking with my father 
 that night, 1 found him of a similar view, and I resolved to 
 leave my pleasant work and dawning prospects in the city, 
 and to take up a student's life in earnest, 
 xiv 
 
Introduction 
 
 The next week saw my name enrolled as that of a budding 
 freshman at Genesee College. My four-years course of 
 study at Lima was uneventful, though pregnant with results. 
 I was ambitious and yet found myself brought into com- 
 petition with young men of greater natural ability and far 
 better preparation for work. I found, however, that I had 
 one gift — that of perseverance. I used often to say to my 
 rivals, " You can learn more easily than / can, but I can 
 study more hours than you can." It was a great solace to 
 me to recall how, in the fable, the tortoise won the race 
 with the hare. Gradually my earnestness and enthusiasm 
 told, and I discovered new and unsuspected elements of 
 my mind coming to the front, and encouraging me by the 
 presence of fresh sources of strength. I did much literary 
 work outside of class duty. I took an active part in the 
 societies, and soon became known as a leading spirit in the 
 Lyceum — a debating organization in the Genesee Wesleyan 
 Seminary, in which building I boarded. Its members 
 heaped upon me all the honors in their gift; my room 
 became the head-quarters for its committee meetings ; and I 
 bore my full share of the burdens of its management. 
 This labor I now consider as among the most important 
 of my school life, for I there learned to be alert, to defend 
 my views, and to hold my own among my fellows. 
 
 My father being unable to pay all my college bills, after 
 the second year I spent my vacations in farm work. During 
 one summer vacation I earned fifty dollars in the harvest 
 field. In my Junior year I taught a district school for 
 three months. Finally, I was forced to borrow money from 
 a relative, and to give my note to the boarding hall for my 
 last year's board. It was a difficult struggle, and I was 
 driven to economize, where abundance meant opportunity 
 and culture ; yet want had its advantages, also, for it meant 
 freedom from many temptations, and the development of 
 energies that otherwise might have remained dormant. 
 
 After graduation from College, I went to my father's farm 
 at West Barre, Orleans County, N. Y., and, doffing the 
 student, became the farmer. I had no vocation in life. 
 
 XV 
 
Introduction 
 
 No special profession enticed me to its fold. I discovered 
 in myself no peculiar aptitude for any particular kind of 
 work. I said to myself only this : — "God brought me into 
 this world and God has something for me to do. In His 
 own good time, He will open the gate into My field of labor 
 and, meantime, I will lift no latch. I can earn my bread 
 on the farm, and — wait ! " 
 
 One day there came to me from an entire stranger an 
 invitation to teach in a school of which I had never before 
 heard, situated in a section of the state entirely unfamiliar 
 to me. It was from Principal J. R. French, LL.D., now of 
 Syracuse University, offering me a place in the Mexico 
 Academy, Mexico, Oswego Co., N. Y. I accepted. It 
 was my first call, and I believed it to be my summons to 
 my life's work. Every doubt and scruple as to what I was 
 to do vanished in an instant. When I learned afterward 
 that I was recommended to the place by Rev. Dr. Bragdon, 
 of Genesee College, a professor whom I scarcely knew, my 
 faith in my mission was still further strengthened. Never 
 did a young man go forth with a stronger determination to 
 bend every energy to win success. My salary was small. 
 "You fix my wages this year," I said to the trustees, " but 
 I will fix it next year." To their look of inquiry, I added, 
 " I intend to make myself so useful to you that you will pay 
 me any price to keep me." 
 
 Several of the studies I was required to teach were un- 
 familiar to me. Unwilling to let my pupils know this fact, 
 I did not commence my preparation until after they had 
 retired at night. Sometimes the five o'clock morning bell 
 would startle me at my desk with the necessity for taking a 
 little sleep before I began my day's work. I kept several 
 lessons in advance of my classes, and hence was ready to 
 answer every question, and I do not think any one of the pupils 
 suspected at what a little distance ahead of them their 
 teacher was really travelling. 
 
 The amount of work I accomplished during the first year 
 was enormous. Thus, I read the six books of the ^neid 
 through carefully seven times, using every collateral help of 
 
 xvi 
 
Introduction 
 
 notes, grammars, classical dictionaries, etc. After a time I 
 adopted in Latin the custom of prelection. At the close of 
 each recitation, I read to the class the translation of tlie 
 next day's lesson, couched in the best English I could use. 
 The pupils were required to translate so fluently that a 
 listener would suppose them to be reading an English book. 
 This was always given as the test of good work. It was in 
 order for me to call for any passage previously passed over, 
 and the pupil was expected to be prepared every day on 
 anything he had read during the term. Literal translations 
 and application of rules to idioms were given separately. 
 I carried out this mode of work very carefully in my sub- 
 sequent teaching. The result was a remarkable form of 
 using English, which, after all, I conceive to be the best 
 effect of studying Latin in school. 
 
 Soon after I began my teaching, the young men who 
 occupied the rooms on the upper floor of the Academy, 
 "tried on the new teacher," as the current saying went. One 
 evening I was aiding some pupils in my room, when a 
 terrible crash resounded through the building ; and on going 
 to the hall I found on the floor the remains of a stove which 
 had just been dashed down the stairs past my door. Know- 
 ing, of course, that before I could ascend to the upper hall, 
 the perpetrators of the act would be in their rooms and 
 probably in bed, I returned to my table and completed the 
 lesson in hand. Soon afterward, I went upstairs, and found, 
 as I expected, the hall filled with students, busily com- 
 menting on the disturbance. As they gathered about me, I 
 quietly and carefully gathered the reins of conversation 
 into my hands. Finally, a circle was formed and I narrated 
 stories of student tricks and escapades. The boys joined in 
 with anecdotes and observations, and we had a pleasant 
 chat. Meanwhile, I moved about and critically scanned 
 every person present. Suddenly I remarked, " But the 
 boys who threw the stove downstairs forgot to wash their 
 hands ! " Unconsciously the guilty ones dropped their 
 eyes to see if their blackened fingers had betrayed them. 
 It was enough, and amid a jovial laugh on the part of the 
 b xvii 
 
Introduction 
 
 young fellows, who now comprehended my scheme, I returned 
 to my room. At breakfast the next morning I told the 
 story to the principal of the school, and before chapel the 
 offenders were called before him, compelled to confess, and 
 made to sign an acknowledgment of penitence and promise 
 of amendment. 
 
 In the summer of 1859, ^t the close of the first year. 
 Principal French, having decided to practise law thereafter, 
 resigned his place, and I was elected to succeed him. It 
 was a better outcome of my labors than I had dared to 
 expect, though it was with great hesitancy that I ventured 
 to follow in the tracks of so popular and successful a teacher. 
 Fortunately, I had ere this discovered an efficient helpmeet, 
 and before I assumed my new responsibilities as principal, I 
 married Miss Esther Baker, the teacher of music in the 
 Academy. Every year that has passed since then, has but 
 served to prove the wisdom of that choice. Nearly thirty 
 years have come and gone, and still our feet keep time to 
 the music our early love then set vibrating. My wife at 
 once came into full accord with all my plans, aided me with 
 her advice and sympathy, cheered me with her hopefulness, 
 and merged her life in mine. Somehow, in looking back 
 over the labors of the past, I hardly know where her work 
 began and mine ended, so perfectly have they blended. 
 
 I occupied the principalship of Mexico Academy until 
 the autumn of 1861. The breaking out of the Civil War 
 had then filled my mind with new thoughts, and inspired a 
 sense of a different duty. The patriotic fervor of the school 
 ran high. The pupils raised a liberty pole, and unfurled the 
 flag of the Union amid loyal speeches and songs. Finally, 
 a regiment of volunteers being raised in Oswego County, it 
 was found that one company was lacking. So many assured 
 me that I was the only man who could give a fresh impetus 
 to enlistments, that at last I resigned my place and offered 
 my services to my country. I raised the company, was 
 chosen captain and sent to the front. When the Eighty-first 
 New York State volunteers marched up Pennsylvania 
 Avenue at Washington, I led Company K. It numbered 
 xviii 
 
Introduction 
 
 one hundred and one as true-hearted and devoted men as 
 during all that long and bloody war were hurried to the 
 defence of the flag and the principles it symbolizes. 
 
 My experience in camp and field is described in a series 
 of letters I wrote at the time for my home paper. I had no 
 love for a military life, and I found the duties of a soldier 
 quite incompatible with those of a student. Yet I had no 
 tliought but of remaining till the last traitor was subdued, 
 when an unlooked-for fatality befell me. 
 
 On the field of Seven Pines I was badly wounded. Being, 
 however, the only commissioned officer present with the 
 company, I remained in command for a week thereafter — 
 a week of constant exposure and danger. We had lost all 
 our camp equipage, our coats, blankets, cooking utensils, 
 etc., and were stationed in the midst of swamps. It rained 
 almost constantly, and we had no protection whatever. At 
 night we cut down brush with our knives, placed it evenly 
 in heaps, and thus made rude beds. Several men would 
 lie together for the sake of warmth, but their weight would 
 sink the pile, and we would frequently waken to find our- 
 selves in a puddle of water. 
 
 Being seized with rheumatism caused by such exposure, 
 I was finally taken to the hospital at City Point. Thence I 
 was sent on north, from place to place, until at Philadelphia 
 I was furloughed to go home, as the hospitals en route 
 were all full to overflowing. A kind chaplain, Rev. J. B. 
 Van Petten of Fairfield, N. Y., conducted me as far as 
 New York City. How I ever got from there to Penn Yan, 
 I cannot remember or imagine. Weakened by disease and 
 half crazed with pain, my clothing soiled by dirt and torn by 
 bullets, I must have presented a strange appearance. I 
 dimly recall how people stared at me as I passed along, and 
 offered any assistance possible. I must have wandered in 
 my delirium from the direct route. Long afterward, a friend 
 told me that he met me on the Erie cars at Corning, yet I 
 came into Penn Yan from Elmira and so, after meeting my 
 friend, I must have gone east again to Elmira, and thence by 
 the Northern Central Railway to Penn Yan. The entire 
 xix 
 
Introduction 
 
 journey has been to me a sealed book, save as memory has 
 opened here and there a single unconnected leaf. 
 
 In Penn Yan my wife was staying at the residence of my 
 uncle — Hon. Wm. S. Briggs. There at last I found 
 the care and surgical skill I so much needed. They came, 
 however, almost too late. Southern fever superseded, and 
 my life was long in danger. Just as I was recovering, an 
 order from Washington was issued directing all furloughed 
 convalescent officers to repair to a convalescent camp at 
 Baltimore under pain of being held as deserters. There 
 was, in the opinion of my friends, no alternative for me in 
 my feeble condition, except to resign. I reluctantly com- 
 plied with the necessity and was duly and honorably mus- 
 tered out of the service. Thus abruptly ended this stirring 
 episode in my life. 
 
 In the autumn of 1862 I accepted the principalship of the 
 Newark Union Free School, and resumed my pedagogic work. 
 
 I took a deep interest in the prosecution of the war, and 
 made frequent speeches, wrote many articles, and, in gen- 
 eral, aided in guiding public sentiment, in upholding the 
 form of the goverment, and in the enlistment of troops. I 
 had several very flattering offers to re-enter the army, but 
 my experience had taught me that my physical endurance 
 was not sufficient to bear the strain of campaign life. It 
 was a year after my resignation before I fully recovered my 
 strength. For months of this time, owing to indigestion, I 
 was forced to live exclusively on mutton broth and rice. 
 When at last I regained my vigor, my sense of duty pointed 
 to other fields of labor. 
 
 At Newark I spent four pleasant and profitable years. 
 I had now settled down unreservedly to the work of a 
 schoolmaster, and I was bent on making the most of it, and 
 of myself in it. Educational methods gradually unfolded 
 themselves in my experience. I gained some power of 
 instruction. I slowly learned how to govern, and to read 
 and lead minds. I became more and more impressed that I 
 was called to the work of a teacher, and that I must and 
 would be successful. 
 
Introduction 
 
 In the winter of 1863-64, an unlooked-for outcome of my 
 work presented itself. At the close of chapel exercises, one 
 morning, I noticed that many of the pupils were in tears. A 
 strong influence pervaded the room. A singular impression 
 was made on my own mind, and I seemed driven forward by 
 unseen and unknown influences. I restrained myself, how- 
 ever, and merely announced that after school at night, I 
 should be happy to meet in the library such pupils as desired 
 to converse with me. At the hour named I entered the room 
 and found it, to my surprise, crowded with the oldest and 
 best students and all the teachers of the institution. I made 
 a few quiet, earnest remarks upon this singular episode of 
 our school life, and then prayed for Divine guidance to point 
 out what we should do next. It was a new experience for 
 me and I determined to unfurl my sail, and drift with the 
 wind and tide — celestial forces all, as I believed. 
 
 Several of the teachers and pupils spoke and prayed, each 
 one feeling the solemn nature of the occasion, and expressing 
 an anxiety to do his or her duty in this unexpected emergency. 
 The next Sunday evening, at the request of many young 
 people, I called a meeting in the Methodist Church. The 
 spacious chapel was crowded and when an opportunity was 
 given nearly every one present rose for prayers. There was 
 no visible excitement, no obtrusive emotion. Only the young 
 people took part. No minister attended, or aided, or sug- 
 gested, in the work. Yet there was a deep undercurrent of 
 feeling that swept through the entire community. Meeting 
 after meeting followed. There were no awakening sermons 
 or speeches, and at our gatherings we had only plain talks, 
 earnest prayers, and devotional songs. Yet, at one time, 
 every member of the Academic department expressed a hope 
 of saving grace. Union meetings of the churches followed in 
 the wake of this wonderful revival, and were continued until 
 spring. The young people, however, kept up their own relig- 
 ious assembly as long as I remained in Newark, and I do not 
 believe any of us ever forgot the deep sense we experienced 
 of the Divine presence and blessing. The memory of our last 
 meeting will be to me a benediction as long as I live. 
 XX i 
 
Introduction 
 
 Ever since I began to write compositions in school, I had 
 cherished a desire to form a correct literary style. While in 
 college I took Emerson as a model for terseness and vigor, 
 and Whipple for eloquence and brilliancy. I studied these 
 authors carefully and committed many of their best passages. 
 I tried to express their ideas in my own language, and then 
 diligently compared my sentences with theirs. Vacations, 
 Saturdays, and odd hours generally were devoted to this 
 fascinating employment. I spared no opportunity to exercise 
 the gift which I hoped I possessed. For over twenty years, 
 from 1852 to 1874, I never declined a chance to write a 
 composition, essay, oration, newspaper article, or lecture 
 that presented itself. Not that I was anxious to appear in 
 public, but I felt that writing alone would give me form of 
 expression, as study gave me fertility of thought. During 
 that entire time, I never charged a cent of remuneration, 
 and, I think, nothing was ever offered me, except in a few 
 cases for my travelling expenses. All I sought I gained, a 
 chance to develop a literary style. 
 
 From the first I had done my best teaching in the Sciences, 
 especially in Physics, Chemistry, and Geology, the branches 
 I was required to take charge of in schools. Not satisfied 
 with a mere routine of recitations, I at once turned to ex- 
 perimentation and sought to bring my pupils face to face 
 with Nature. We had neither apparatus nor money, and we 
 were forced to resort to every method of securing means to 
 prosecute our illustrations and investigations, and to test 
 our ideas scientifically. We made many pieces ourselves; 
 one, I remember, was a galvanic battery of eighty pairs of 
 cups. We manufactured such of our chemicals as we could. 
 I gave a series of scientific lectures, and devoted the pro- 
 ceeds to the purchase of instruments. Finally it came about 
 that every alternate Wednesday evening of the winter was as- 
 signed by common village consent to our exclusive use at the 
 Academy, and thither flocked the young people — and occa- 
 sionally, also, ye elder folk — to hear some scientific subject 
 explained and to see what new piece of apparatus we had 
 made or purchased. The enthusiasm aroused in the classes 
 xxii 
 
Introduction 
 
 was unbounded. The money raised was duplicated by the 
 Regents of the University, and when I left the school, its 
 apparatus was estimated to be worth about two thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 One afternoon in March 1866, I was lying on a lounge in 
 my Hbrary, being just convalescent after a severe illness. 
 Suddenly there came a knock at the door, and happening to 
 be alone in the house at the moment, I could only call out 
 to the visitors to enter sans ce're'moftie. To my surprise I 
 found it a committee from the Board of Education of 
 Elmira, N. Y., sent out to find a principal for their Academy. 
 The delegation, consisting of Superintendent Orrin Robin- 
 son and Attorney Newton P. Fassett, had visited several 
 schools, and in my absence and without my knowledge, 
 had just inspected my own. After a brief conversation they 
 offered me the position in their Academy, and I promised 
 to take the subject into consideration. No step in my Hfe 
 ever received greater deliberation. The prospect of wider 
 usefulness, the benefit to my health of a change of climate, 
 and perhaps, also, the offer of a higher salary, finally decided 
 me, and as the Newark Board of Trustees kindly agreed to 
 release me, I accepted the new position for the spring term. 
 
 At Elmira, I found the Academy demoralized beyond all 
 my anticipations. During a preliminary visit I had watched 
 the principal calling the school to order, after recess, by 
 walking through the study hall and tinkhng a little bell in the 
 midst of each group of disorderly pupils, the entire process 
 occupying five or ten minutes ; while during chapel prayer, 
 I saw a young woman playing hide-and-seek behind the 
 pillars. But my first week in the school revealed such a 
 lack of honor, order, and respect as almost to dishearten me. 
 I had come from an institution where all were in sympathy 
 with my ideas and plans ; where my lightest wish was law ; 
 where all were eager to learn, and the only strife was who 
 should outstrip the rest. Here the contest was reversed, and 
 the prize of public approval fell to the one who could most 
 successfully avoid duty, break the rules, and escape 
 punishment. 
 
 xxiii 
 
Introduction 
 
 Full of courage, however, and conscious of being in the 
 right, I began the work of reform, and soon had the satisfaction 
 of feeling that I had won the confidence and quiet support 
 of the best students. Among the young men I was especi- 
 ally successful and by showing them the value of their 
 time, the necessity of an education, and the folly of throwing 
 away their chances for life as they were doing, I got most of 
 them fairly at work. Among the young women, however, it 
 was different. The law-keepers were quiet and silent, 
 though probably in the majority ; but the law-breakers were 
 noisy and aggressive, and constantly sought an opportunity 
 to interrupt the growing peace and studiousness of the 
 school. They were restive under the new order of things, 
 and planted themselves squarely in the way of every improve- 
 ment, seeking every chance to make a noise that I could not 
 officially notice, to utter a witty remark, or to raise a laugh. 
 Determined not to study themselves, they did not intend 
 that others should study. 
 
 At last I resolved on a desperate remedy. It was an extra- 
 ordinary case, and only extraordinary measures would avail. 
 Having advised with members of the Board of Education 
 and secured their approval and promise of support I decided, 
 if necessary, to inflict corporal punishment. Accordingly, 
 the next morning I bought a heavy raw-hide. I told the shop- 
 keeper my object in the purchase, and carried the whip in 
 my hand through the streets, and across the playground to 
 the Academy. En j'OJite I announced to those who in- 
 quired the reason of my carrying so unusual an implement 
 for a teacher, that I proposed to be master of my school. I 
 arranged all these preliminaries thus publicly in order to 
 show my deliberate determination, and that, in whatever 
 might happen, no one could afterward accuse me of having 
 been actuated by passion. 
 
 By the time I reached the platform, every pupil was in his 
 seat, and as I laid the whip on the table before me, there was 
 a death-like silence. There was no need of tinkling a bell 
 about the room to obtain order on that occasion. My own 
 voice trembled with suppressed emotion, and I was obliged 
 xxiv 
 
Introduction 
 
 to support myself against a chair as I began to talk. I nar- 
 rated the history of the preceding year and contrasted the 
 condition of the school with what it ought to be ; pictured 
 the loss of time and opportunity, now gone irreparably; 
 specified the rude and unscholarly habits that must hence- 
 forth be discarded ; showed how the year had left them 
 worse than it found them, and that they now stood laden 
 with an incubus of folly and idleness unfitting them for 
 further advance ; pointed out the fact that, to many of them, 
 the present was the last year they would have in school and 
 that they were squandering their only chance of an edu- 
 cation ; impressed on their minds the advantages an edu- 
 cated person had in society and life over an ignorant one ; 
 and indicated just what might be done in one year of hard 
 work, how evil habits might be broken, and good ones 
 formed, should a start be made at once in the right 
 direction. 
 
 I then said I had been placed in control of the school to 
 help those who desired to learn, and that it was my duty to 
 give them a fair chance and to protect them from the idle 
 ones who hindered their progress ; that the large majority 
 of the pupils, especially of the young men, were anxious to 
 reform the school and to make up as far as possible for lost 
 time ; that the Board had promised me its assistance in any 
 measure I saw fit to adopt, and that I was sure the best 
 pupils would stand by me in any emergency ; that I was 
 willing to assume any risk, and to suffer any consequences, 
 however unpleasant ; that there were a few, chiefly among 
 tlie young women, who had made light of every earnest word 
 I had spoken, and were determined to defeat the reorgani- 
 zation and upholding of the school ; that I had at last been 
 driven to the only means left, and had deliberately resolved 
 to resort to corporal punishment ; that it was a cruelty, but so 
 was the spirit of insubordination that existed among them, 
 and the responsibility must rest upon the heads of those who 
 had compelled me to this course. 
 
 I said I had no word of appeal to make to the law-breakers, 
 for I had already exhausted my words of entreaty and expos- 
 
 XXV 
 
Introduction 
 
 tulation, and they had abundantly shown that their hearts 
 were bent on evil, and that continually; but I did appeal to 
 the lovers of law and order, to those who desired to work, to 
 those who had come to school for a purpose, to those who 
 were resolved to break with the past, and lead a new life; — 
 those I begged to stand by my side in this supreme effort. 
 With this imploration, I knelt down and prayed — prayed 
 as I never prayed before in all my life that God would give 
 me strength and grace to conquer that school ; and that His 
 spirit might work mightily in the hearts of the pupils, filling 
 them with a sense of justice, obligation and right, and in- 
 spiring them with such a desire for order and love of duty as 
 would shape and color all their future life. 
 
 When I arose, I took up the raw-hide, and said, " I propose 
 to flog the first pupil, girl or boy, who speaks aloud or leaves 
 his or her seat ! " I then sat down and waited. No one 
 stirred. The silence was oppressive. The tension was so 
 great that few could command their minds sufficiently to 
 study, though all kept their books before them, and looked 
 at them with a show of work. Nearly a half-hour passed, 
 and no movement of disorder had been made. I saw that 
 the crisis was over, and said, " We will now take a recess, 
 and I wish you would come to the desk and tell me how 
 you feel about this whole matter." At the word, the school 
 sprang up en ?nasse, the most of the pupils crowding around 
 me, and pledging me their allegiance. It was a scene to 
 melt the stoutest heart. We were all in tears and smiles. 
 We shook hands right and left, and as we looked into each 
 other's faces we took courage. 
 
 While we were yet congratulating one another and re- 
 joicing over the prospect before us, I felt the danger of 
 a reaction after this high tension, and closed the school. 
 I urged the pupils as they passed out to go directly home, 
 not stopping on the way to talk over with any one or tell any- 
 body else what had happened, but to seek their parents, 
 describe the whole scene, and beg their advice ; and then if 
 they cou/d Y>Y3.y, ask God's assistance and guidance in carry- 
 ing out the pledges and resolves of that eventful morning, 
 xxvi 
 
Introduction 
 
 The afternoon came, and as the regular hour approached, 
 the pupils assembled. They came in silently, and almost 
 immediately took their places. All was expectation. I saw 
 the peril of words at such a time. To the surprise of all, I 
 mounted the rostrum, quietly announced the regular order, 
 and with a sharp clang of the bell, called for the first recita- 
 tions. This action threw every one back upon the fulfilment 
 of his promises, and left the events of the forenoon standing 
 out in bold relief. 
 
 I never alluded to that morning's scene until the close of 
 the term. On the last evening, in the midst of a merry social 
 chat, I went to my desk, drew out from beneath the accum- 
 ulated papers that never forgotten raw-hide, and formally 
 presented it to the Senior Class. I had no use for it. With 
 the surroundings of that night, it looked like a fossil of the 
 Paleozoic Age; so we laid it up on a Museum shelf, un- 
 marked, and it finally disappeared, no one ever told how, or 
 where. 
 
 The Academy, during the six years I remained at its head, 
 gave me the opportunity of my life. I had never before been 
 entirely unhampered. Now everything bore the odor of 
 failure, and I was at liberty to make any change I pleased. 
 Indeed, a change was desirable rather than otherwise. 
 During my school experience, I had become convinced that 
 the germinal idea of discipline was self-control; and that the 
 true aim of the schoolmaster was not to teach the pupil how 
 to be governed by another, but how to govern himself. I 
 determined to adopt this method and mould the school in 
 harmony with it. I at once sent away the monitor-teacher 
 who had hitherto kept order in the study hall, abolished 
 all rules and regulations — especially those that forbade 
 whispering and leaving seats, and threw the school entirely 
 upon its honor. I devoted my efforts, not to the execution 
 of certain arbitrary rules, and to the detection and punish- 
 ment of every petty offence, but to the development and 
 enlightenment of the conscience of my pupils, and I spared 
 neither time nor strength to elevate and tone the public sen- 
 timent of the school. 
 
 xxvii 
 
Introduction 
 
 The effect was marvellous. Within a year or two the new 
 system was in full working order. No teacher sat in the 
 study hall, but the pupils controlled it themselves. They 
 rang the bells, opened school, and called recesses and classes 
 for recitations. They asked no permission to whisper or 
 to leave their seats, but, each being a law unto himself, the 
 decision was made before the bar of his own conscience, 
 as to what was right or wrong in every case. I argued that 
 he was necessarily a better judge of his own wants than 
 the teacher could be. 
 
 Classes came and went. Visitors would pass through the 
 rooms and not an eye be lifted to notice them. If the teacher 
 did not appear when a class assembled, it would immediately 
 call some one to the chair to preside and begin work. When 
 done, if the teacher had not yet come, the class would quietly 
 return to the study hall. If a pupil saw a pencil mark on 
 the wall, he would erase it ; a piece of paper on the floor, he 
 would pick it up ; anything wrong, he would stop and right 
 it. Let a band of music go by, or an alarm of fire be heard, 
 and a pupil could not rush to the window, or leave his desk, 
 without a hiss from the school and a general call to order. 
 Many a time have I gone into a lower room, when a band 
 was marching by, and found some wild, music-loving boy 
 with his fingers stuck into both his ears, his head bent down 
 over his book, and his brows knitted, in his earnest deter- 
 mination to achieve the joy of a self- victory. ^ 
 
 The effect of this scheme of government was seen in 
 the harmonious relations established between teachers and 
 pupils. The latter looked after much of the minutiae of the 
 school, and afterward showed an interest in its welfare that 
 was touching, indeed, to the true teacher. Thus, for example, 
 one afternoon, after dismissal, while conversing with some 
 
 1 This account of the results reached are taken from a paper 
 that I read before the Convocation of the University of the State 
 of New York, August 4, 1869. The general ideas I enter- 
 tained on the subject of discipline are contained in my Lectures 
 on "School Government" and "The Aim of the Teacher," which 
 I gave repeatedly, by request, before educational conventions, 
 xxviii 
 
Introduction 
 
 patrons in my private room, I heard a loud noise upstairs ; a 
 moment later a young man called at my door, and as I looked 
 at him inquiringly, since I saw that he came from the scene 
 of disturbance, he begged me not to be alarmed, as " it was all 
 right." The confusion in the hall above increased, but I 
 remained in my room, having full confidence in the correct- 
 ness of the pupil's statement. In a little time the noise sub- 
 sided, and soon after a committee waited upon me with the 
 
 following statement : — " Mr. , who lately entered our 
 
 class, has been very impertinent to Miss . We told him 
 
 repeatedly that we would not have our teacher insulted. We 
 gave him fair warning, but he laughed at us. This afternoon 
 his conduct was especially aggravating, and so, after recita- 
 tion, we met him in the hall, and one of us gave him a smart 
 flogging. He begged, and promised to behave himself. We 
 think the matter is all arranged now. We did not want to 
 bother you, and thought we would better settle it ourselves." 
 What could a teacher do in response to such an action of 
 loyalty, but to stand with brimming eyes and beating heart, 
 and rejoice ? 
 
 My favorite classes still continued to be those in Science, 
 and I now gave up my whole time to them. It was my cus- 
 tom, after each recitation, to take careful notes of any defini- 
 tion, explanation, or illustration that seemed specially effec- 
 tive. Thus I preserved every thought and method struck 
 out in the white-heat of the recitation room. Every day 
 added to my store of good things. The text-books then in 
 use contained from five to six hundred pages of fine type, 
 and were often dull and uninteresting. The larger part 
 of our pupils could devote only a single term of fourteen 
 weeks to each branch of science. It was impossible for them 
 to pass through the entire book in this limited time, and there- 
 fore the teacher was accustomed to omit various chapters 
 and sections as needed, and, when assigning each lesson, to 
 indicate to the class what portions were to be prepared for 
 recitation. The pupils used to mark these with a pencil, and 
 thus go through the book, hopping from sentence to sentence, 
 and paragraph to paragraph, in a style most destructive to 
 xxix 
 
Introduction 
 
 thorough scholarship. Oftentimes the teacher having no 
 judgment as to what ought, and what ought not, to be pur- 
 sued in the limited period allowed, would drop behind, and 
 at the close of the term, rusli through the last part of the 
 book at the rate of twenty-five pages per day. The dulness 
 of the text, and this haphazard way of pursuing it, combined 
 to render Science teaching, generally, exceedingly unpopu- 
 lar. There were, of course, marked exceptions to this mode 
 of teaching, but they served only to render the usual prairie 
 monotony more noticeable. 
 
 To meet the need of my classes, I gradually selected from 
 the mass of each branch, those topics that the average pupil 
 ought to pass through somewhat intelligently in a single 
 term ; and that, when opportunity offered, he could develop, 
 illustrate and apply, during a longer time. Under each of 
 these topics, I collected experiments of a practical character 
 and wrote rhetorical passages that might serve to rouse the 
 attention and inspire the enthusiasm of my pupils. I be- 
 lieved a fact to be no less a fact when warmed by the ima- 
 gination, and hence did not hesitate to avail myself of that 
 faculty, so powerful in youth. My success encouraged me, 
 and gave me confidence in my plan. More and more, my 
 instruction surged away from the regular text-books, and 
 took on an oral character. 
 
 At last, for my own convenience and that of my pupils, and 
 also to gratify those of my scholars who had become teachers, 
 I began to prepare my Chemistry notes for the press. In 
 fact, I had already arranged to have them printed at a local 
 press in Elmira, when an unlooked-for event changed my 
 purposes. 
 
 Dr. Woolworth, Secretary of the Regents of the Univer- 
 sity, invited me to meet at Albany with several teachers from 
 various parts of the state, to consider the condition and needs 
 of education. At this gathering, the question of text-books 
 in science was discussed. A general opinion was expressed 
 that there was a demand for brief, comprehensive, practical 
 works. It was suggested that the Regents be invited to pre- 
 pare such texts, but Dr. Woolworth promptly declined this 
 
 XXX 
 
Introduction 
 
 responsibility, as being outside the province of the Board. 
 I need not say how intently I listened to this discussion, in 
 which, however, I took no part. 
 
 At that time one usually saw on the title-page of school- 
 books, the legend, " For the use of Academies and Colleges." 
 
 I came home resolved to write a Chemistry for Academies 
 and High Schools alone. On laying the subject before my 
 wife, she approved the plan, and moreover offered me 
 her aid in revising and copying manuscript, in reading 
 proofs, etc. While engaged in this new work, I received a 
 call from Mr. Knapp, an agent of Messrs. A. S. Barnes & 
 Co., N. Y. As he was an old acquaintance, I told him what I 
 was doing, and he reported the fact to the firm. Not long 
 after, a correspondence was opened; then Mr. C. J. Barnes, 
 a member of the house, called at my room, heard me read 
 the chapter on Oxygen, and took my manuscript to New 
 York ; finally, a contract was signed for its publication. 
 
 The book appeared in the autumn of 1867. I shall never 
 forget with what feelings I watched for the announcement 
 of the first copy. When news came that a package had been 
 sent me, I hurried to the express office, and, Sunday as it 
 was, tugged the twenty-nine copies over to my boarding- 
 place. What a Lilliput it seemed — only two hundred and 
 twenty-five i4mo pages of coarse, well-leaded type — and 
 what a contrast to the standard Brobdingnags of the day ! 
 
 But it sold ! I could scarcely believe the news that came. 
 I had never dared hope that anybody outside the circle of 
 my personal friends would care to buy my book. Yet so it 
 was. An edition of two thousand copies had gone at once, 
 and a second edition was to be printed immediately. My 
 publishers proposed that 1 should prepare other similar 
 works in Science. Of course, I was only too happy to comply. 
 
 The years to come were busy ones. The accompanying 
 list of the dates of my copyrights shows how steadily I 
 worked for the ensuing double-decade. It was easy for me to 
 prepare the texts in sciences, as I had passed over the ground 
 so often, had classified my material, and had much manu- 
 script ready. But in 1 87 1 I entered a new field. Hearing that 
 xxxi 
 
Introduction 
 
 my publishers were getting out a new History of the United 
 States, I had suggested to them some ideas derived from my 
 experience in superintending history classes, which I hoped 
 they would embody in the forthcoming book. Shortly after- 
 ward a disagreement arose between them and the author 
 of the said history, which resulted in the withdrawal of 
 his manuscript. To my amazement, Messrs. Barnes then 
 proposed that I should write the book myself. At first I 
 declined, but at the urgent request of Mr. A. C. Barnes, the 
 junior member of the firm, with whom I had then formed a 
 close and warm friendship, I finally consented. As I had 
 no wish to have my name appear on so many title-pages, 
 and as my sciences were my pets, I stipulated that my name 
 should not be announced in connection with the work. A 
 long correspondence ensued between Mr. A. C. Barnes and 
 myself, several pseudonyms being suggested until finally we 
 agreed to name the book " Barnes' Brief United States." 
 
 My wife had always made history a specialty in her studies, 
 so I arranged for her to take a more prominent part in the 
 preparation of this book than she had in that of the preceding 
 ones. She revised and copied manuscripts, and read proofs 
 as before, but, in addition, she now gathered material and 
 wrote some of the most important and interesting notes. 
 The success of the " Brief United States " was almost imme- 
 diate, and when it was concluded to complete this series, my 
 wife gradually assumed more work, until in the " Popular 
 History of the United States," the " History of France," and 
 the " General History," she prepared a definite portion of 
 the manuscript. Every reader of the Barnes Series of Brief 
 Histories recognizes her chapters on manners and customs 
 as generic. 
 
 In getting up these various books we spared neither labor 
 nor expense. We visited Europe four times to gather ma- 
 terial, attend lectures, and study the newest methods, 
 spending in all fourteen months in the shadow of the British 
 Museum. I associated with myself also the best help I 
 could find. Prof. J. W. P. Jenks, A. M. of Brown Univer- 
 sity, who had made Zoology a lifelong study and who had 
 xxxii 
 
Introduction 
 
 achieved a phenomenal success in teaching the subject in 
 academies, was prevailed upon to become jointly interested 
 with me in preparing this text. In Botany I secured the 
 invaluable services of Prof. Alphonso Wood, A. M., the 
 veteran author. In Chemistry I was aided greatly by 
 Edward J. Hallock, of Columbia College, whose lengthy 
 studies in German laboratories had furnished him with a 
 fund of experience. My Physics manuscript was care- 
 fully read by Prof. Thomas H. Core, A. M., of Owens Col- 
 lege, Manchester, England, while many of my teacher 
 friends, such as Prof. Harper of Maine, Dr. Armstrong of 
 New York, and Supt. Jones of Pennsylvania, rendered me 
 excellent assistance. In my Astronomy I was helped by 
 Dr. Lewis Swift, of the Warner Observatory, who read the 
 entire proof, by Dr. J. R. French of Syracuse, who revised 
 the mathematical part, and by many teachers who freely 
 gave me the fruits of their experience. In revising my 
 Physiology I was indebted to Prof. Stowell, of the Cortland 
 Normal School, whose aid and profound knowledge has 
 rendered him an authority in many lines of this study. Thus 
 on every hand I garnered in the aid of my fellow-laborers, 
 who sympathized with my plan, and were glad to help me in 
 its execution. 
 
 TWENTY YEARS' WORK. 
 1866-1886. 
 
 My Chemistry manuscript was begun in 1866 to be prepared for 
 
 the press. 
 
 
 Copyrighted. 
 
 1867. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 1869. 
 
 Physics. 
 
 
 Astronomy. 
 
 1870. 
 
 Key to Sciences. 
 
 
 Geology. 
 
 1871. 
 
 United States' History. 
 
 1872. 
 
 Fourteen Weeks in Physiology. 
 
 
 Zoology. 
 
 c 
 
 xxxiii 
 
Introduction 
 
 1873. Chemistry — First Revision. 
 1875. History of France. 
 
 Popular History of United States. 
 1877. Geology — First Revision. 
 
 187S. Popular History of United States. — New Administra- 
 tion added. 
 
 Physics — First Revision. 
 1879. Botany. 
 
 Excelsior Studies in United States' History. 
 
 United States' History — First Revision. 
 18S0. United States' History — New Administration added. 
 188 1. History of Ancient Peoples. 
 
 1883. History of Mediaeval and Modern Peoples. 
 General History. 
 
 ]History of Greece (with select readings). 
 
 1884. Hygienic Physiology. 
 Abridged Physiology. 
 Astronomy — First Revision. 
 
 1885. History of Rome (with select readings). 
 United States' History — Second Revision. 
 
y^ 
 
 JOEL DORMAN STEELE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE GOOD FORTUNE OF BIRTH 
 
 NO man of sane possibilities need be wholly the vic- 
 tim of heredity, nor does the best descent insure 
 exalted character. But it is one of the recompenses of 
 intelligent, righteous, and devoted parenthood that its 
 children generally carry into the working world, aspira- 
 tions, tendencies, and purposes which perpetuate and 
 increase the usefulness of their ancestry. The potency 
 of lineage and environment was strikingly exemplified in 
 the life of Joel Dorman Steele. 
 
 He was one of a distinguished family, the earliest 
 American progenitors of which were John and George 
 Steele, brothers, who emigrated to America within ten 
 years after the departure of the Mayflower. They be- 
 longed to an important English family and gave to their 
 posterity an honored coat of arms. John Steele, the 
 ancestor of Joel Dorman Steele, led in 1635 a pioneer 
 band from Massachusetts to Connecticut, where his party 
 laid the foundations of the future Hartford. From him, 
 a long line of notable descendants manifest a fine family 
 excellence, many winning distinction as school men, 
 soldiers, and clergymen. There was a Samuel who 
 was deputy to the General Assembly in 1668-69 ^'^^ 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 1672-77; a Samuel who married Mercy, granddaughter 
 of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony ; 
 there was a Lavinia who married Hon. Augustus Porter 
 of the famous Niagara Falls family and whose brother 
 was Secretary of War under John Quincy Adams ; there 
 was a Salmon who watched with the dead body of Gen- 
 eral Warren, and who was one of a number of Revolu- 
 tionary patriots. In the Steele genealogy the name of 
 Allen or Allyn is found as early as in 1757 and is re- 
 peated eight times, the last to bear it in the line with 
 which this memoir has to do being the father of Dr. 
 Steele. 
 
 This Allen was born May 24, 1808, in Salisbury, New 
 York, and was early left motherless, with the prospect 
 of an uncertain fortune. But his mother on her death- 
 bed, with tender and solemn admonition, had pressed upon 
 her beloved son the claims of godliness. Her dying 
 words were never forgotten, and at thirteen the lad joined 
 the Methodist Church, feeling, even though so young, 
 that he might some time be called to preach. At twenty- 
 one he received his first appointment ; at twenty-five he 
 entered upon the peace of home life, she who joined 
 her destiny to his having passed but little beyond her 
 childhood's years. Sabra Dorman, born September 13, 
 18 1 6, was the daughter of Dr. Joel Dorman, gradu- 
 ate from a New Haven Medical College, and of Olivia 
 Lawrence, his wife, who belonged to one of the oldest 
 and most respected families in Yates Co., New York. 
 
 To Allen and Sabra Steele, in the hope of their youth, 
 was born, on the 14th day of May, 1836, a son. The 
 year that gave the babe to the arms of the mother, 
 took from her, suddenly, her cherished father, but his 
 honorable name, bestowed upon the little one, was des- 
 
 2 
 
The Good Fortune of Birth 
 
 tined to become famous throughout and beyond the 
 nation. Of it he wrote nearly fifty years later, in a letter 
 to his wife, inclosed in his last will : " My name I have 
 tried by a life of earnest toil to make honorable, and I 
 leave it unspotted, so far as I know, by any unworthy 
 act of mine." 
 
 The love and blessings of a dying mother went before 
 the conscious intellectual intents and decisions of the 
 boy " Dorman," as they had gone before those of his 
 father, for he too was destined to lose the earthly proofs 
 of maternal care while yet leaning upon them, and, by 
 the laying on of the hands of bereavement, was early 
 appointed to the discipline of pain. 
 
 Thus, at the age of fifteen, he stood with the dawnings 
 of future fervors in his boyish face, touched with the 
 grief of his recent loss. He was wan from the wasting 
 of a fever like that which had deprived him of his 
 mother and which had brought him within sound of the 
 whispering shores of death. Behind him lay an ancestry 
 which by its aspirations, its mental and moral vigor, its 
 conscientiousness, and its recognition of all righteous 
 claims had resulted in the exalted nature which was his 
 from the cradle. It is probable also that the ancestral 
 capacity for rigid adherence to the sense of duty, and 
 of uncomplaining acceptance of physical discomfort if 
 necessary to spiritual and intellectual attainment, had 
 sinlessly defrauded the great soul of adequate housing. 
 This inherited bodily frailty made his whole existence a 
 marvellous example of conquering courage. For 
 
 " The child grew and waxed strong in spirit." 
 
 Of every man, whose occupation touches the diviner 
 things of life, it may be said, as truly as of the poet, that 
 
 3 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 he is " born, not made ; " and of none is this more 
 notably true than of the teacher. No discerning stu- 
 dent of Hfe can read the story, from birth to death, of 
 the fifty years allotted to the subject of this memoir 
 without reverent perception of the office to which he 
 was pre-ordained. 
 
 Not that the young boy had any precocious intimation 
 of the line of work he would pursue. But from his first 
 intellectual awakening, with intuitive selection, he appro- 
 priated, omitted, accepted, rejected, sought, and shunned, 
 according to the needs of one steadily growing toward 
 the light, and into full flower and fruitage. 
 
 His religious nature was early stirred, and the quiet 
 tastes of the student showed themselves, with the in- 
 stincts of that delicacy and fine, sensitive insight which 
 were always his marked characteristics. But along with 
 these traits, moderating them and insuring symmetry, 
 were the fresh young impulses and delights of one 
 who loved nature in all her moods. Added to this sav- 
 ing grace was a wholesome ability to turn to prosaic 
 tasks, with cheerful pleasure in their small and practical 
 details. 
 
 And over all, and through all his days, dominating 
 every desire and animating every deed, the faith he kept 
 with his conscience made possible that which he became, 
 — one able to vivify the thought of his generation and to 
 waken high enthusiasms in the young. 
 
 The world took note of three lines of effort in which 
 Dr. Steele was eminently capable. As Student, Teacher, 
 and Author he earned its attention and applause. And, 
 marking the steps that led to his eminence, we find 
 in his youngest endeavors indications of what he 
 became. 
 
 4 
 
The Good Fortune of Birth 
 
 At nine years of age, as he himself has told us, he 
 began to feel " the first real zest of a student's love of 
 work." At eleven he wrote his first composition. He 
 was then a member of a Troy, N. Y., school, the 
 " Boys' Academy," where he began Greek and French, 
 having already done some fundamental study in Latin. 
 
 The composition, entitled "Albany," and dated Sep- 
 tember 26, 1847, is preserved, its painstaking, childish 
 hand setting forth those facts about the capital city which, 
 to the boy, were most conspicuous. With the serious- 
 ness due the gravity of his task he wrote the little treatise. 
 It is very exact in description, expressed in noticeably 
 correct language, and redeemed from too precocious 
 precision by some refreshing mistakes in spelling, and — 
 after a ponderous paragraph specifying the strength of 
 materials and thickness of its walls — the confident 
 assertion that the Capitol "is probaly the most per- 
 manent building in the world." 
 
 This initial production proves how early its writer 
 began to exercise his quick and careful observation and 
 how soon the tendency to impart to others the knowl- 
 edge he had gained showed itself. It was the instinct 
 of the teacher. 
 
 The first experience of the future master of schools 
 covered a part of the summer after he was seventeen 
 years old. The story of its dull and dragging days he 
 has recorded. He vaguely felt the failure of the lifeless 
 routine to which custom bound him. It bore down the 
 heart of the boy, not yet quickened by the dawning dis- 
 cernments that finally illuminated his work with splendid 
 intelligence. 
 
 His next teaching, at twenty, was the shift of a college 
 student in need of money to further his education. 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Between it, and that summer term against the monotony 
 of which his individuality had protested, lay the industry 
 of many undertakings. Farming, book-keeping, reading, 
 writing, and clerical work in a publishing house had 
 been the varying occupations advancing him toward an 
 efficient readiness which made him better capable of 
 instruction. 
 
 However he was as yet impelled simply by the acquis- 
 itiveness of a learner. He was gathering, but it had not 
 yet been shown him how he should give. It was only 
 when the appeal of other minds had moved his own to 
 helpful response that he heard and knew his call. Once 
 knowing it he was ever faithful to its persuasion, and 
 thenceforth was pre-eminently the teacher. Thus, in 
 1875, when he had become widely known as an author, 
 he called his address, delivered before the New York 
 State Teachers' Association, " What a New York Teacher 
 saw in the German Schools." 
 
 His first public honors were won by his work in the 
 schoolroom when, in 1870, the Regents of the Univer- 
 sity of the State of New York conferred upon him the 
 degree of Doctor of Philosophy " in consideration of 
 eminent success as a teacher." The next year he was 
 elected President of the New York State Teachers' 
 Association, and in 1883 he became a life member of 
 the National Educational Association, at which time it 
 was said of him, " In all things he has undertaken he 
 has acquitted himself with honor, and imparted a nobil- 
 ity and dignity to the teachers' profession." Among 
 other words spoken in his memory by an educational 
 writer in 1886 were these: 
 
 " His delicate health forced him to forego many attractive 
 engagements and much congenial pleasure, but he never 
 
 6 
 
The Good Fortune of Birth 
 
 allowed it to shut him out from the closest intimacy with the 
 brotherhood of teachers, and failing strength abated not a 
 jot of interest in them and all their concerns. We all 
 remember, at the close of a Holiday Conference last De- 
 cember, his allusion to himself as on the downward slope of 
 life, and his earnest wish that he might still be counted one 
 of us." 
 
 Only they who are guided by the intuitions of right- 
 eous intelligence so find and fulfil their vocation. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE GROWING TEACHER 
 
 LOOK through the long roll of renowned names that 
 have enriched the history of our repubUc in every 
 Hne of noble accomplishment, and realize the debt the 
 nation owes the farm. Among them all it would be hard 
 to find that of any man who, if he were not the son of a 
 farmer, had not in some way come into touch with farm 
 life during his formative years. 
 
 Joel Dorman Steele was no exception. His mother 
 was daughter of a man who had resigned the life of an 
 efficient physician for that of a farmer ; her clergyman 
 husband had bought a country place when their son was 
 but half-grown, and through its outdoor duties and 
 pleasures the delicate lad gained in health and strength ; 
 during school-life he bent alternately above his books 
 and over the hoe, the rake, the sickle, and the scythe ; 
 thus, he took to the tasks of the desk the steadiness of 
 plodding, patient, rural industry ; and carried to the 
 fields the quickened apprehensions of the scholar, which 
 lifted him above the mere performance of homely labor 
 and taught him the inner suggestions of seed-time and 
 harvest. To the end of life Dr. Steele was a lover of the 
 soil and its rewards, and the fresh spirit of such a lover 
 permeated all his literary work. 
 
 On the home farm at West Barre, Orleans County, 
 New York, in the summer of 1858, the recent collegiate, 
 
The Growing Teacher 
 
 working, and waiting for the next thing, received a call 
 to teach Greek, Latin, and the Natural Sciences in Mexico 
 Academy, Oswego County, New York. John Raymond 
 French, afterward Dean of the College of Liberal Arts 
 and Vice-Chancellor of Syracuse University, was at that 
 time Principal at Mexico, and, needing an instructor, 
 had written to certain of the Faculty of Genesee Col- 
 lege for advice. The result was the receipt of such 
 recommendation of " Mr. J. D. Steele, a regular gradu- 
 ate of Genesee College," as brought about his entrance 
 upon the duties of a teacher's profession in August, 1858. 
 Mexico, a village of about a thousand people, had 
 become an educational centre on account of its Acad- 
 emy, one of the oldest and best conducted in the State. 
 A list of its text-books at that time shows that the course 
 was laid out with intelligent care and wise choice of 
 authors. Besides the solid branches, it contained also 
 some accomplishments of the day, such as the study 
 of melodeon music, and the making of ornamental wax- 
 work, flowers, wreaths, crosses, and the like. The melo- 
 deon merits a passing mention. When first introduced, 
 it was esteemed a triumph in the evolution of reed in- 
 struments. It was then without pedals, the bellows 
 being worked with the elbows, the box-like frame rest- 
 ing on a table or the lap, the size easily admitting of 
 the latter* disposal. Its capacity was little more than 
 four octaves and the keys somewhat resembled those of 
 the modern typewriter. Later it was enlarged, put on 
 its own legs and indulged in an increased inflation be- 
 cause of its pedals. It had at this stage become the 
 immediate forerunner of the cabinet organ, and in addi- 
 tion to the pleasure its manipulation gave to modest 
 music lovers it was found sufficient for the practical 
 
 9 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 study of counterpoint. Obsolete as it long since be- 
 came, it served well the times for which it was invented, 
 and in 1858 twenty thousand of the improved forms 
 were sold in the United States. 
 
 On taking up his work in Mexico the new professor 
 became a member of the principal's family, and the 
 familiar relations thus established founded an intimacy 
 which was without break until the death of Dr. Steele. 
 After this event the sympathy between the households 
 was, if possible, yet deeper. Later, when Dean French 
 had also been taken, there still survived the fidelities 
 and hospitalities of an earnest friendship, manifested by 
 those who, each in her place, had shared most closely 
 the lives of the distinguished men. 
 
 For three years, with an ardor which marked his 
 career from first to last, the young teacher performed 
 the duties of his position, and even if the limits of that 
 time had bounded his professional life, yet would the 
 lesson of his service be well worth the conning. Four 
 decades have preserved in and beyond the little town 
 many memories and illustrations of the essential quality 
 of his power. 
 
 Born instructor as he was, he manifested from the 
 first his intense yearning, not only to teach the truth but 
 to teach the application of truth to life, and his solici- 
 tude for his pupils can only be expressed by the old 
 evangelistic phrase : "A burden for souls." "Honor" 
 had already become his watchword. 
 
 The second year of his stay in Mexico saw him, by 
 the resignation of Principal French, promoted to be 
 master of the school, and it is touching to see how his 
 apprehension of accountability warred with the natural 
 buoyancy and high spirits of his youth. 
 
 10 
 
The Growing Teacher 
 
 In an institution which had so advanced a curriculum, 
 there were students fitted by age for social fellowship 
 with the principal, and constantly he guarded the dignity 
 of his position against any personal slips of decorum 
 which, however innocent in themselves, might imperil 
 his authority and the good of the school. To one of 
 warm and active friendliness this required a nice balance 
 of judgment and conduct. 
 
 His earnestness to avoid careless intercourse with his 
 pupils is well illustrated by an extract from a letter 
 written to Mrs. Steele in i860, when she was absent on 
 a visit. 
 
 He was then but twenty-four years of age, and after 
 an evening of merry relaxation in company with several 
 of the older scholars, he wrote : 
 
 " I intended to-night to have a pleasant, social chat, but 
 the first I knew the talk was at sixes and sevens, as it so 
 often has been before. ... It does not seem becoming to 
 my position. . . . Pray for me that I may learn to influence 
 others aright. ... I have been terribly lonesome all day 
 and when they came in I was glad, thinking it would render 
 the evenuig more tolerable. But it would have been better to 
 be lonesome than to laugh and talk as I did to-night. Not 
 worse than I have done dozens of times before, but worse 
 than I meant to do again. . . . O, let us both try to live in a 
 way more becoming our profession. You are better than I 
 am. I feel your restraining influence and I need it. . . . 
 We shall travel together toward Heaven and mayhap induce 
 others to go with us — those who look to us as patterns, 
 those who put confidence in us. Let us make them respect 
 our conduct and example." 
 
 The conduct he deplored is shown by the confessions 
 of the letter to have been merely a boyish abandonment 
 to gay conversation, badinage and laughter, common to 
 
 II 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 the happy young the world over. How httle he merited 
 self-reproach may be judged from the words of those 
 who viewed his work of that time, either as outside 
 adults or as students. 
 
 Said Dean French, in a reminiscence over thirty years 
 afterward : 
 
 " He was eminently successful, enthusiastic, untiring and 
 greatly beloved by his pupils. Thorough as he was as an 
 instructor, he was no less efficient as a disciplinarian. The 
 position of Principal of the Academy he filled with great 
 
 Charles L. Stone, an eminent lawyer of Syracuse, 
 New York, was, in 1895, requested by a friend to give 
 his impressions of Dr. Steele. He had been a pupil 
 in the Mexico Academy, at about the age of thirteen, 
 and his response to the request was an eloquent and 
 discriminating letter. Evidently, in turning back to the 
 memory of his school days, the very emotions and infer- 
 ences which had moved the boy's mind revived to impel 
 the pen of the man. 
 
 " He was my first ideal man," wrote Mr. Stone. " Rather 
 tall, spare, light hair worn long, a clear and scholarly face, 
 young, a general favorite alike with pupils and parents, an 
 excellent and enthusiastic teacher, a good executive — a dis- 
 ciplinarian rather by moral force and a bearing that uncon- 
 sciously turned the thoughts and ambitions of the boys 
 toward honorable and manly courses. He carried about 
 with him an atmosphere of inspiration to youth. 
 
 " I was young, I knew him but a short time, my impres- 
 sions were boyish, I had no intimate acquaintance with him, 
 as the conditions forbade, but I admired him and I remem- 
 ber I liked to watch him and observe his movements. Still 
 I regarded him with some awe ! He seemed to me on a 
 
 12 
 
The Growing Teacher 
 
 plane which I might only hope to attain, if at all, after pro- 
 tracted study and discipline. 
 
 " I think his eyes were blue. Once he opened them in 
 the midst of his morning prayer at chapel, and it seemed to 
 me as if the light from them penetrated through the boy 
 whose whispers had disturbed his devotions. 
 
 " Perhaps this may not be of interest to others. I sat 
 down, not intending to say so much, and have wandered on 
 in a sort of unreserve I am not accustomed to. The im- 
 pressions I record were those made upon the mind of a 
 young boy unacquainted with the world." 
 
 It is doubtful whether any tribute to a teacher could 
 be of more worth than this fresh and fair remembrance 
 of childish appreciation. By it is unquestionably proven 
 the influence of character on the young, and its value as 
 a teacher's qualification. Unformulated until after years 
 had calmed the impulses, the discernments of the inex- 
 perienced boy bear the test of time, and minify many a 
 labored estimation. 
 
 A fitting addition to the words just quoted are those 
 written after Dr. Steele's death by a lady of unusual 
 culture — a pupil of a later academy. They tell the 
 same story of guiding and inspiring power : 
 
 " Looking back, I am more and more amazed — as 
 my comprehension becomes more perfect — at the wonder- 
 ful knowledge of human nature he possessed and the 
 skill with which he touched its springs of action. He 
 was almost clairvoyant in his ability to read individual 
 needs and idiosyncrasies, and a genius in providing for 
 and directing them. Far and wide over the world those 
 whom he trained are doing brave battle for ' honor ' and 
 earnest work, with an ever-growing admiration for the 
 delicacy yet strength of the methods he used in imparting 
 enthusiasm." 
 
 13 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 What a recompense to him, who stood in the first days 
 of his professional ambitions, somewhat overborne with 
 the charge he had to keep, could he have known that 
 men and women of mark would some day see how his 
 hand had touched the plastic period of their lives ! But 
 amid all his busy plans for service, he asked for himself 
 only the consciousness of duty done ; the ability to en- 
 large the vision of others ; a fair reward for his tasks ; 
 and some leisure, when his work was done, for a book, 
 a little garden, a bit of travel, and the peace of bodily 
 rest to fit him for yet greater exertions. 
 
 M 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS 
 
 WHEN the new teacher entered Mexico Academy, 
 the members of the faculty, as well as the 
 students, were personally unknown to him, and he had 
 studied with interest a catalogue containing their names. 
 It chanced, however, that a change had been made after 
 the catalogue was printed, and he was, therefore, entirely 
 unprepared, when he met the music teacher, to see a 
 dark-haired, brown-eyed young lady of vivacious, candid 
 manner and an altogether indescribable charm. 
 
 Forty years later, a lady, who was present when the 
 pair were introduced, said : 
 
 " It is impossible to give in words any idea of the look 
 with which Professor Steele regarded Miss Baker. Between 
 his evident admiration and his surprise his face was a study. 
 I think it was a case of love at first sight. At any rate it 
 was soon plain that something was likely to happen." 
 
 In less than a year from the time the two met, the 
 something which their friends had foreseen happened, 
 the wedding taking place at the home of the bride's 
 father early in the summer vacation. The marriage was 
 hastened by the prospective groom's unexpected election 
 to the office of principal of the academy, an advance- 
 ment which made him more confident of his ability to 
 become at once the responsible head of a household. 
 Miss Baker's father. Rev. Gardner Baker, united the pair. 
 
 15 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 The wisdom of the immediate union was noted from the 
 first. " There seemed," said a gentleman, once a pupil 
 of both, " to be a natural affinity of soul, and the mar- 
 riage was apparently one of those ordained by Heaven." 
 
 " I never knew," said Dean French, after the death of 
 Dr. Steele, "a happier married life than was theirs. 
 Their mutual devotion was remarkable." 
 
 Mrs. Steele, like her husband, was the child of a 
 Methodist parsonage, and knew the wandering life of 
 the itinerant's family. Her father relinquished the hope 
 of a university education under the conviction that he 
 must not postpone his entrance upon work as a minister. 
 He often referred to this turning point in his life, won- 
 dering what would have been his career had it not been 
 so changed by his emotional religious nature. 
 
 Those conversant with circuit riding in the first quarter 
 of the century know something of the sacrifice his deci- 
 sion implied. But he cheerfully did the things he felt 
 God had given him to do, with no thought of complaint. 
 
 It is likely that this quality of happy surrender was 
 one of his gifts to his daughter, whose steadfast associa- 
 tion in all her husband's work, of every kind, so sped the 
 tasks of fresh and hopeful endeavor and held up his 
 hands in weary days. 
 
 Gardner Baker's wife, to whom he was married in 
 1827, was Miss Esther Scott, daughter of Captain Enos 
 Scott, a man prominent in the " general training days " 
 of long ago. Of those days Mrs. Steele once wrote to a 
 friend : 
 
 " They went out of date in my early childhood, but I dis- 
 tinctly remember them as a time of glitter and noise, con- 
 nected with feathers, drums, hard gingerbread, and molasses 
 taffy." 
 
 16 
 
The Marriage of True Minds 
 
 Miss Scott became a wife at eighteen, entering at once 
 on a life that knew at first many mutations, throughout 
 and beyond which to the end of her eighty-seven years 
 she preserved a beautiful sweetness of manner, unaffected 
 dignity, and pure refinement. The last struggling words 
 that came to her lips, when the death change was swift 
 upon her, were a feeble " Thank you." 
 
 The child of such parents found in their very depriva- 
 tions a stout-hearted courage that made her able to 
 engage life with cheer for herself and others. For, while 
 the mean-spirited when they meet obstacles turn back 
 to obscurity, the superior develop overcoming force and 
 rise above every difficulty. This has been the glory of 
 our Republic, and has brought the children of high- 
 minded men and women, who have known the pecuniary 
 limitations of the nobler professions, to every place of 
 exalted trust and celebrity. 
 
 The married years of Dr. and Mrs. Steele were dis- 
 tinguished by a felicity and concord unusual even among 
 the happily united. The stressful and fervid nature of 
 the man needed the less strenuous but equally aspiring 
 and wholly sympathetic nature of the woman. She 
 brought to his intellectual walks an ability to keep beside 
 him, whatever path he pursued. She parried his self- 
 distrust with a faith in his purposes, and suggested 
 methods which gave him cheerful expectation of the 
 outcome. She met his discouragements with elastic 
 good spirits ; she soothed his pains with her compassion ; 
 she welcomed him from the daily conflict of life to the 
 peace of a perfect home, — she both leaned upon and 
 uplifted his heart. 
 
 There were occasional separations for a longer or 
 shorter period, on account of business, miscellaneous 
 2 17 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 duties, or the need of rest. These occurrences, so 
 regrettable to both, gave rise, through the habit of daily 
 letters, to a voluminous correspondence, which fortu- 
 nately preserves the passing incidents of their days, their 
 familiar talks of mutual joys and sorrows, and their un- 
 reserved expression as to current life and thought. While 
 most of this interchange is too sacred for the public 
 eye, portions of it will be used in the pages to follow to 
 illustrate the character and motives of him whose story 
 they tell. 
 
 The letters of Dr. Steele everywhere unconsciously 
 disclose his universally humane heart, his affection for his 
 home, and his faith in her who made it home to him. 
 All the way from the effluent sentences of the husband 
 of twenty-three, to the time of the last absence of Mrs. 
 Steele, but a few weeks before his death, there is one 
 unvarying note of fond allegiance and trust. 
 
 In i860 : " I am longing to see you. I am running over 
 with points I want to consult you about and which I hardly 
 care to put upon paper. Many little items I have gathered 
 and heard of I am aching to talk over with you." 
 
 Feb. 1862, from camp: "How I long to see you! It 
 seems as if I could not wait longer — that I must see you 
 immediately. It is useless to write more, as I should only 
 say the same thing over and over again. I keep my pen 
 moving simply to repeat the same refrain : ' I want to see my 
 wife.' " 
 
 From camp, 1862 : " I miss your presence, your conversa- 
 tion, our home —that haven of rest. How we shall prize it 
 if we are ever united within its walls again ! " 
 
 "June 29, 1863, 9 P.M., Bachelor's Hall. It is getting 
 mighty lonesome here and I wish so much for your return. 
 But I believe I agreed not to say a word of that sort, so I 
 take it all back." 
 
 18 
 
The Marriage of True Minds 
 
 1867 : " Don't stay two weeks unless necessary. Year by 
 year you are becoming more essential to my life and happi- 
 ness — becoming more and more a part of me." 
 
 1867 : " I wish you were back here. We were going to 
 have such good times writing that book together," 
 
 In 1 87 6 he preceded Mrs. Steele to the Centennial 
 Exposition at Philadelphia, where, during a part of the 
 time he was in company with Rev. Dr. A. W. Cowles, 
 President of Elmira College, who was considerably below 
 Dr. Steele in stature. 
 
 "Machinery Hall, May 17th, 1876. 
 
 " My dear Wife, — I thought I would send you a greet- 
 ing from the Machinery Hall of the exhibition by means of 
 our new typewriter which I have just purchased. My aman- 
 uensis writes beautifully — do you not think so? I am enjoy- 
 ing myself, so far, mainly in learning to use my legs — the 
 principal thing required here. It takes a fifty cent scrip to 
 get in. After that all you need is pedal extremities. I think 
 I am about half an inch shorter than when I came this 
 morning, having worn thus much off. If I remain here this 
 week I fear I shall have to look up to the College President. 
 But enough of this. Great is the Centennial, of which I am 
 one. May you soon be another. 
 
 " Yours pedestrianly, 
 
 "J. DORMAN." 
 
 January, 1877, Mrs. Steele was in Watertown assisting 
 in preparations for the golden wedding of her parents, 
 and her husband had resolved that he would not mar 
 her pleasure by frequent mention of his loneliness during 
 her absence. It transpired, however, that she wrote him 
 on Christmas Day and stated that the holiday had not 
 been perfectly happy without him. In reply he said : 
 
 " I am glad you were not happy on that day any more than 
 I was. I did n't know but you would be glad to be rid of me 
 
 19 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 just for a little holiday. O, you poor old half-of-a-scissors ! 
 You can't cut without the other half ! There is no use 
 in making believe. You would better be honest as I have 
 been and say you were ' gloomy.' Well, I will try to worry 
 through the month in some way. ... I did not mean to say 
 a word about missing you. But, as you broached the sub- 
 ject yourself, I could not keep still any longer. Now have 
 I said too much and ' put my foot into it ? ' I fear so. I 
 take it all back. I have not lisped a syllable. I • deny the 
 allegation and defy the alligator.' So then — we do not miss 
 you at all. We are all delighted to have you gone to Water- 
 town. It is a daily relief to have a vacant chair. We count 
 the days and dread your return. Could n't you stay longer 
 just as well as not ? 
 
 " Peacefully, happily, joyfully yours, 
 
 "J. D. S." 
 
 Nov. 27, 1879: "It is Thanksgiving! Three years ago 
 to-day I wrote up Valley Forge in the Centennial History, 
 and Brother Viall was here to dinner. Two years ago we 
 were in London with the Chapins. One year ago you were 
 here and we had a jolly time. It is very dull now, and even 
 the turkey looked lonesome." 
 
 Mrs. Steele was at the Thousand Islands, August 23, 
 1880, historical writing, then under way, absorbing both 
 her own and her husband's time. She had found it 
 impossible to work at home, owing to interruptions, 
 growing out of her wide acquaintance and social nature. 
 In a letter, largely devoted to the interchange of thought, 
 plan, and opinion as to their co-labors. Dr. Steele said : 
 
 " It is a great sacrifice on my part to let you stay. I 
 miss you so much. ... I feel a sense of watit all the time 
 you are absent. Frequently I stop my reading or my writ- 
 ing or my thinking. How can I, I say, get along longer 
 without my wife ! Every hour something comes up to make 
 me wish you were here. I am so accustomed to refer every- 
 
 20 
 
The Marriage of True Minds 
 
 thing to you, to advise with you as a second self. But I 
 must stop or you will think I am getting sentimental with 
 advancing years — a fall you could never forgive." 
 
 All the world is acquainted through some medium 
 with the language of love and the devotions of courtship 
 and early married days. But too rarely is it familiar 
 with a tender constancy that, with ever new attractions, 
 gilds all the changing years of a long married life. And 
 the story of an unwavering mutual affection is as captiv- 
 ating to the human heart as the best story of endeavor, 
 victory, and fame. Now and then it falls out that the 
 tale of endeavor, victory, and fame is inseparably woven 
 with that of the mutual unwavering love. So was it to 
 be in the history of Joel Dorman Steele. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 " war's red techstone " 
 
 Captain Steele's Commission 
 
 To Joel D. Steele. 
 
 WE, reposing especial trust and confidence, as well in 
 your patriotism, conduct, and loyalty, as in your 
 integrity and readiness to do us good and faithful service, 
 Have appointed and constituted and by these Presents do 
 appoint and constitute you, the said Joel D. Steele, Captain 
 in the 8ist Regiment New York Volunteers with rank from 
 Oct. nth, 1861. You are therefore to observe and follow 
 such orders and directions as you shall, from time to time 
 receive from our Commander-in-Chief of the Military forces 
 of our said State, or any other 3'our Superior Officer accord- 
 ing to the Rules and Discipline of War, and hold the said 
 Office in the manner specified in and by the Constitution 
 and Laws of our said State, and of the United States; in 
 pursuance of the trust reposed in you, and for so doing this 
 shall be your commission. In testimony Whereof, We 
 have caused our Seal for Military Commissions to be here- 
 unto affixed. 
 
 Witness : Edwin D. Morgan, Governor of our said State, 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Military and Naval forces of the 
 same, at our city of Albany, the nineteenth day of February, 
 eighteen hundred and sixty-two. 
 
 E. D. Morgan. 
 Passed the Adj. Gen. Office, 
 
 Ass't Adj. Gen. Dr. McCan Campbell. 
 
 It was while Professor Steele was in Mexico that the 
 great political and sectional agitations of the times cul- 
 
 22 
 
" War's Red Techstone " 
 
 minated in our Civil War, engaging the powers and 
 absorbing the enthusiasms of the best men both north 
 and south. It was impossible that leaders of thought 
 and feeling should not, everywhere, come to the front. 
 They were wanted, to exhort, to inspire, to promote, 
 to guide. And in the community where the rumors 
 of war found him, our book-lover, home-lover, man- 
 lover, and peace-lover became the advocate of conflict. 
 
 Intensely loyal himself, he put into words the fire of 
 his own heart and kindled a self-sacrificing flame in the 
 hearts of others. He stimulated patriotism, directed 
 zeal, and pointed out to the hesitating the duty of the 
 hour. Under the urgency of his ardor, many sprang 
 forward to become the defenders of the Union, and the 
 speech-maker soon became convinced that an additional 
 company might be raised if he would go with it to the 
 front. 
 
 With him to see a duty was to do it, and within a few 
 months after the first call for volunteers, school and 
 home were left behind, and in the far South, Captain 
 Steele v^^as enduring the hardships of a soldier's fortune. 
 What this great change cost him no one can estimate, 
 unless he has himself turned from the dear things of life 
 and love, to the distasteful routine of a pursuit for which 
 nature never intended him, and against which the train- 
 ing of his past had intensified his inherent antagonism. 
 
 An old Mexico pupil of Dr. Steele writes : 
 
 " His patriotism impressed me as a genuine enthusiasm, 
 unmixed with any baser motive. A sacrifice it seemed to 
 me — a serious loss to the Academy and to the community 
 his departure certainly was — yet an object lesson that 
 strengthened the patriotism of many. To him it appeared 
 to be a f natter of course, wh&n his country called, to respond, 
 
 23 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 and to respond with alacrity and zeal — not as to the per- 
 formance of a dull duty nor yet without appreciation of the 
 significance of the response. He did not rush in blindly. 
 He was mindful of possible consequences and of the cost. 
 He knew he might be called upon to leave his beloved work 
 and his lovely and attractive wife forever. Yet he did not 
 turn back." 
 
 And now a strange, new life opened before him. Of 
 it he daily wrote, with the eloquent and yearning love 
 of one whose heart beat back to wife and home, but 
 always with the firm resolution of the patriot. 
 
 " I go forth," he said, in a farewell letter to his pupils, 
 " to meet the fate of the future with neither murmur nor 
 hesitation. He who marks out the path, sustains with a 
 strange and wonderful strength him who walks therein." 
 
 That it was, indeed, " a strange and wonderful 
 strength," the story of but a tithe of his laborious and 
 heavy experience, and its piteous depletion of his vital- 
 ity, verifies. 
 
 The following extracts from letters to Mrs. Steele 
 show his craving for the things of peace, his suffering 
 under existing conditions, his consciousness of possibili- 
 ties and his undeviating intent. Before his active cam- 
 paigning he wrote from Camp Rathbun, Albany, N. Y., 
 Feb. 6, 1862 : 
 
 " I feel that camp life is demoralizing in the extreme. 
 The ennui bites like a sharp tooth all the day long." And 
 again: "The whole Sabbath has seemed like a Babel. But 
 I have enlisted in a good cause and would not turn back, 
 though I know I am injuring myself — phj^sically, at least. I 
 owe a debt to these men who have enlisted under me, and I 
 must stand by them, aid them, and bring them home again." 
 
 April 10, 1862 : "Visions of a quiet home after the priva- 
 tions and dangers of war fill my dreams by day and night. 
 
 24 
 
" War's Red Techstone " 
 
 Yet my mind is perfectly clear, my hand steady, my duty 
 plain, conscience at rest. I do not regret coming. It is 
 said that danger sometimes brushes away the mists from the 
 mind. It has done so for me. In the present uncertainty I 
 am settled and would return neither for love, money, nor 
 position. My place is here! My heart rejoices that I am 
 honored with the privilege of fighting for my country — per- 
 haps dying in her defence. Death in such a cause may ren- 
 der even a plain man glorious. I pray God, however, if it 
 is consistent with His plans for the deliverance of my beloved 
 country, that he may spare my life. If not I shall bow my 
 head in surrender, grateful that I am deemed worthy to be 
 a part of the ransom which must be paid for the regenera- 
 tion and purification of my native land." 
 
 April 17: "We have marched about twenty miles since 
 eight o'clock. We had a terribly tedious time under a scald- 
 ing sun. The whole region was destroyed and laid waste — 
 houses burned, fences gone, trees cut down, and every- 
 thing reduced to a state of nature, and yet enough left to 
 show us how war is the enemy of civilization. You cannot 
 imagine what a fearful thing war is, how utterly it ruins 
 every interest and beggars a country. I have read it all, 
 but newtr felt it before." 
 
 Date lost : " Yesterday, for the first time I found a Dan- 
 delion in full blossom. I could have knelt and kissed the 
 little opening flower, it recalled home so vividly. I thought 
 that there, as here, it is Spring and dandelions are opening 
 at its call. For April has rolled away the stone from the 
 sepulchre of winter and bidden the flowers come forth. 
 There, at home, the old, yellow, homely dandelions are 
 springing up at the brookside, in the meadows, clustering 
 under fallen trees, nestling in the sweet grass and pouring 
 up the hill till they tint the whole ground with yellow — as 
 if autumn had left behind this one of all her splendid tints. 
 There, everywhere, are dandelions in the glory of royalty, 
 the gaudy color of gold — here was one little dandelion half 
 hid in fallen leaves. Yet here by the brookside it spake as 
 never flower spake — ■ except to strangers and wanderers, 
 
 25 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 singing to me the whole song of ' Home Sweet Home,' with 
 all its variations, while on my heartstrings was played an 
 accompaniment that brought the tears to my eyes, until I 
 longed to lie down on the grass beside that simple flower 
 and weep like rain. Did you ever pluck a flower from a 
 grave, and lay it by to wither — yet as a memory of the 
 past to be always green? So reverently did I pluck that 
 dandelion and treasure it for memory's sake." 
 
 April — no date: "It has rained hard for several days. 
 Our tent leaks like a sieve. We put rubber blankets under 
 our beds and also over us at night. This morning I found 
 my stockings wet through, although they were on my cot. 
 We do not use our cots at present as they are too cold with 
 only one woollen blanket for each man. This morning my 
 hands shake with the chill as I write. We cannot warm 
 much at the campfires because of the wind. We roast 
 our faces until our heads ache and our eyes fill with tears 
 while our backs become wet to the skin and our feet are 
 in the mud. I have feared more rheumatism from expo- 
 sure, but it does not trouble me at present. And after all 
 we are better off than the private soldiers. I am often 
 ashamed to have more than my poor men." 
 
 April 19: " This afternoon the boys raised a liberty pole 
 in front of the Colonel's quarters. He was much pleased. 
 I could not but contrast my situation with that of last year, 
 when I raised another pole — at home. Sic transit gloria 
 pedagogibiis ! Then I spoke most sincerely of patriotism, of 
 heroism, of the red, the white, the blue. To-day I practise 
 the principles I then propounded." 
 
 May 11:" Every one is inspired with a supreme desire 
 to reach the goal of all our hopes and anxieties. I catch 
 new enthusiasm and want to press on and be one of the 
 number to march through the streets of the confederate 
 capital, to the stirring music of 'Yankee Doodle' — as we 
 did through Williamsburg the other day." 
 
 May 12 : "We have seldom had time to cook our pork, 
 and have had no coffee or sugar ; so we have been driven to 
 live upon raw pork and hard bread. During our forced 
 
 26 
 
" War's Red Techstone '* 
 
 march the hot sun poured down on us with tropic sever- 
 ity, suffocating clouds of dust swept into our faces, our 
 heavy burdens weighed us down, and yet when, overcome, 
 our bodies sank heavily to the earth, came constantly that 
 urgent command, ' Forward, Forward ! ' I will not describe 
 the journey. It is too painful to me even in the retrospect. 
 I am now sore and weak, and my nerves throb and tremble 
 so that I can hardly guide my pen. And yet — Hurrah! 
 On to Richmond ! " 
 
 May 14 (his birthday) : " At seven in the morning we were 
 ready for a march. Two hundred thousand men with all army 
 material were to be pushed through in some manner. . . . You 
 cannot imagine the difficulties of such an enterprise. There 
 were frequently places where we had to cross deep streams, 
 one man at a time on a single log. Again, the mud drove 
 us into the woods, where ranks were broken and passage 
 was delayed. Then a wagon would collapse in the midst of 
 a defile and a stop or a file-around in single rank would re- 
 sult. These delays in a train twenty miles long were of 
 constant occurrence, and at five o'clock in the afternoon we 
 had advanced three-quarters of a mile ! We dared not throw 
 off our loads, and seldom dared to sit down but were kept on 
 a constant stretch. At eight o'clock we stopped thirty min- 
 utes for supper — then resumed our march. I never heard 
 so many oaths in my life ! The men swore and raved, and 
 then, too weak for that, became silent and sank in their 
 tracks — utterly exhausted. Sometimes the sense of fatigue 
 would come over me like a flood and I almost dropped, too. 
 But my pride sustained me and I kept my pluck, marching 
 on at the head of my company until midnight, when, with 
 all my good resolutions and exertions I could not keep awake, 
 but took short naps as we advanced. At last after sixteen 
 miles, at three o'clock in the morning we bivouacked in a 
 ploughed field. I simply spread my rubber blanket over 
 two cornhills so that my feet rested over one and my head 
 on another, and dropped down — worn out ! With a blanket 
 over me I slept soundly. A horse broke loose near by and 
 ran through the camp close by my head, but I never knew 
 
 27 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 of my escape until next morning when the colonel told me. 
 At five o'clock we rose, cooked ham, made coffee and break- 
 fasted. Soon the order came to fall in and we moved to 
 the spot we now occupy. I am tired and lame but hold out 
 yet, though it is passing strange. Every one has said I could 
 not endure sleeping out o' nights in the rain on tlie ground, 
 but I have done so, covered only with that which I carry 
 on my back. Far stronger men than I am, or have ever 
 thought of being, have broken down. 
 
 " I am thinking of you on this my natal day. I cannot 
 describe my thoughts, nor how I long for home once more 
 — our quiet home. This life is so dreadful, so uncongenial, 
 so wasting to mind and body, that I almost wish sometimes 
 I had not come. But no — not that! I only did my duty, 
 and you know I am learning duty's path. May God speed 
 the day when war shall be over, and our separation a part 
 of the dark and forgotten past." 
 
 May 27 : " Last night I slept in the open air. I suppose 
 you are becoming used to that expression. I confess I am not 
 becoming used to the discomfort it implies. I awoke feel- 
 ing very ill. Had I been home I should not have thought 
 I could sit up during the day. However, I staggered through 
 the march, and reaching our present ground dropped under 
 a tree. Mr. Crane put up a shelter tent and made me a 
 good cup of tea. I was kept awake last night and am tor- 
 mented to-day by pain that bends me double, yet I am some- 
 what better. It has rained terribly all the afternoon — drops 
 as large as peas and hail like walnuts. Our tent is flooded. 
 We sit in pools with our rubber blankets around us — the 
 water dripping from them in streams. As I write, the rubber 
 blanket over my head and lap protects the paper in part, 
 though, as you see, some drops have soiled it. I would post- 
 pone this letter but for two reasons : I am lonesome ; and 
 we may at any time advance. You will excuse deficiencies. 
 My illness, the rain and hail pouring down, thunder and 
 lightning of the sharpest kind and a half dozen wet soldiers 
 crowded under my tent, glad of the little shelter it affords, 
 are not conducive to coherent writing." 
 
 28 
 
" War's Red Techstone " 
 
 May 28 : — " Elias A. Wood (a private in his company) 
 died at the General Hospital on the 25th of this month. 
 Is it not sad ? My heart has been heavy all day long. 
 Yet in this terrible drama no one has time to mourn. 
 Friends at home may weep and with sad hearts move about 
 their duties, but no one here pauses to say more than ' That 
 is too bad ! ' And on surges the wave — on rolls the wheel 1 
 Such is a soldier's life and fate ! " 
 
 In expectation of a battle a short letter to Mrs. 
 Steele contained these sentences : 
 
 " I have no time to write many words. I put my trust in 
 God. Happy is the man that putteth his trust in Him. I 
 may fall. Should it be my lot to wet the Southern soil with 
 a soldier's blood, be assured I do not murmur. These words 
 ring in my ears : 'It is sweet and glorious to die for one's 
 country.' If I live, the memory of these trials will purify us 
 both. In either case it is God who vvilleth of His good 
 pleasure. May He smooth your path, comfort your heart, 
 soothe your sorrow, and at last bring us both home in 
 peace." 
 
 The next letter followed an awful silence after the 
 Battle of Seven Pines, May 31, 1862. It was written 
 on a bit of brown paper ; it was crumpled, soiled and 
 stained with the blood of the wounded Captain as he 
 lay on the field after the conflict — weak, suffering, and 
 as yet unattended. But through its incoherency, its 
 agony of collapse and its longing, it still told a story of 
 fidelity, patience, piety, and unalterable love for the dear 
 one at home. And through it breathed an unchanged 
 devotion to that cause for which he had now fought and 
 bled. Truly his faith and truth "on war's red techstone 
 rang true metal." 
 
 29 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Captain SteeVs Discharge 
 
 Head Quarters 4th Corps, 
 Rowland House, Va., July 22nd, 1862. 
 Special Orders, 
 No. 88. 
 The following named officer having tendered his resigna- 
 tion is hereby honorably discharged from the Military Ser- 
 vice of the U. S. 
 
 Capt. J. D. Steele, 8rst Reg. N. Y. Vols. 
 
 By Command of Brig. Gen. Keyes. 
 (Signed) C. C. Suydam, 
 
 Capt. and A. A. G. 
 Official. 
 
 Head Quarters Peck's Division, 
 July 23d, 1862 
 
 (Signed) W. H. MoRRiss, 
 
 Capt. and A. A. G. 
 Official. 
 
 Head Quarters ist Brigade, 
 
 (Signed) Geo. H. Johnson, 
 
 Capt. and A. A. G. 
 
 Official. 
 
 Head Quarters 81st Reg. N. Y. Vols. 
 
 Wm. C. Raulston, 
 Maj. Com. Sist N. Y. Vols. 
 
 30 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 AT NEWARK 
 
 SO rapidly moved events that but little more than 
 three months after he received his wound Professor 
 Steele once more stood behind the teacher's desk — this 
 time as Principal of the Union School, Newark, N. Y. 
 Here he began in September, 1862, a four years' work 
 which as indelibly marked the life of the community 
 and of those under his care as had the four years spent 
 in Mexico. 
 
 Only those who witnessed the struggle for life which 
 took place between the wound at Seven Pines and his 
 reinstatement to the activities of a civilian, can form 
 any idea of the Valley of the Shadow of Death through 
 which he passed. Something of its darkness lies across 
 the pages on which he wrote, shortly before his death, 
 a brief review of his military experience. 
 
 Whether or not the fever, following his return home, 
 had burned out the poison of swamp and sluggish stream, 
 certain it is that life took on its new lease, with a 
 rallying power that spoke as well for his physical and 
 mental tenacity, as had his fortitude during exhausting 
 marches, killing heats and depressing chills. And though 
 worn and wasted, he gathered fresh force for effective 
 industry. 
 
 A survey of what he accomplished during his stay 
 in Newark, shows an assiduity and ambition that are 
 
 31 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 amazing. He not only performed the usual duties of 
 the principalship with unusual proficiency, but he con- 
 stantly undertook other projects conducive to the 
 advancement of his work and to wider educational in- 
 fluence than the mere attention to professional routine 
 could give. To this he was impelled by that within 
 him which woke to action whenever he saw a need he 
 could supply, a question he could answer, an obscurity 
 he could illuminate. 
 
 Professor William Wells, who had been his instructor at 
 Genesee College, wrote from Union College in 1894 : 
 
 " As a student he was bright, lively, sympathetic and ubi- 
 quitous. Wherever any activity was in progress he was in 
 the midst of it. I now see him in my mind's eye as I often 
 saw him then — smiling, laughing, encouraging — in the 
 crowd ; or on the platform, appealing, advising, maintaining 
 or censuring. He was never outside of anything." 
 
 The last sentence aptly notes a trait in Dr. Steele's 
 character to which he owed much of his success and to 
 which every community in which he lived owed a debt 
 of gratitude. Great things enlisted his heart and soul, 
 small things his attention and service. The plans of 
 his friends, church causes, social schemes, devices for 
 furnishing his school with better equipment, political and 
 patriotic problems, all sorrows and all joys of neighborly 
 interest — he was outside none of them. 
 
 " I retire to my room," he wrote in the spring of 1863, " at 
 from eleven to twelve o'clock at night, after these lectures 
 and school performances. I read in my room an hour or so 
 — sometimes until past one, and rise at 6.30." 
 
 The lectures referred to were a scientific series, illus- 
 trated by experiments or pictures or both. They were 
 
At Newark 
 
 a local feature during each winter of the lecturer's 
 sojourn in Newark and were highly commended by press 
 and people, widely extending the fame and popularity 
 of the Newark school and its master. Before his re- 
 moval from the town he began to be in considerable 
 demand in other places and at institutes. His subjects 
 were mainly scientific. A few of them were " The Twin 
 Oceans," " Chemistry of the Candle," " Science of the 
 Sunbeam," " Atmospheric Philosophy," " Electrical 
 Philosophy," and the like. 
 
 The material returns for these lectures, delivered abso- 
 lutely free of personal recompense, placed in the school 
 apparatus worth about two thousand dollars. The library 
 also constantly grew, and of course patronage steadily 
 increased, and the Newark newspaper of that time con- 
 gratulates the village on the fact that " the receipts from 
 the tuition of foreign scholars considerably exceeds that 
 of any year since the organization of the school and is 
 nearly treble that of three years ago." 
 
 The schoolmaster, as he had done in Mexico and as 
 he later did in Elmira, won to himself the confiding love 
 of the pupils — a love most dear to him. During his 
 first year he wrote Mrs. Steele : 
 
 " I do believe my scholars like me better and better. This 
 is what I most desire. I receive beautiful bouquets daily 
 and carry them home every night. This morning I found 
 a gift of strawberries, 'just trembling on the border of 
 ambrosia and nectar,' carefully stowed away in my desk. 
 It was labelled, ' For Mr. Steele, by one of his scholars.' 
 The little girls downstairs daily waylay me, as usual. They 
 now call for me and escort me to school. I can hardly stir 
 without this fluttering bodyguard. I think I never felt so 
 much affection among my scholars as here. It cheers and 
 encourages me wonderfully." 
 3 33 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 The remarkable hold gained by him on the moral 
 and spiritual natures of the students is not forgotten 
 to this day. Years afterward a young woman said : 
 " He made a different person of me. I owe all I 
 am to him." That remark, happily repeated to him 
 when fame had become his, filled him with tender joy 
 and thankfulness. In 1873 he wrote to General Alfred 
 C. Barnes, of New York, a member of the firm of 
 " A. S. Barnes & Co.", with whom he had formed a 
 close friendship and who was then in Europe : " I 
 want to tell you that one of my old pupils has just 
 taken charge of my former school in Newark. Another 
 has just been elected Principal of Mexico Academy." 
 By him such things were regarded as important events, 
 worthy to be communicated to those whom he loved 
 and trusted. 
 
 As a teacher, he had, from the beginning, taken into 
 consideration moral and spiritual foundations. By nature 
 and rearing sincerely religious, his army experience, which 
 brought him face to face with many momentous crises, 
 had filled him with a sense of the splendor of sacrifice. 
 So he returned to his profession with a purified perception 
 of service and a quickened benevolence. And Newark, 
 his new field, yielded the first fruits. 
 
 Nothing could have been more unexpected than the 
 spontaneous manifestation in his school of that religious 
 awakening which finally interested the entire village. 
 Of it he has himself written in his reminiscences, and his 
 letters of this time teem with allusions to it. He evi- 
 dently performed the tasks of both teacher and pastor, 
 and every student under his care was personally engaged 
 in the endeavor that lifted all to higher living and 
 finally enlisted every denomination. 
 
 34 
 
At Newark 
 
 "We had a heavenly prayer-meeting," he writes. "Glori- 
 ous is the God who giveth such rich fulfilment of promise. 
 These young people's meetings are full of blessings." 
 
 "They have coaxed me into the idea of leading their Sun- 
 day School, but I do not think I am fitted for it or will give 
 satisfaction." 
 
 The Sunday School mentioned was a Mission School 
 at Hydeville, Wayne Co., N. Y., and it became a real 
 success. He associated with himself in the work one 
 of his students, a young man who took charge of a Bible 
 class and led the singing. Of the latter. Professor Steele 
 made much. He later wrote in letters of differing dates 
 as follows : 
 
 " The singing we find very poor, so much so that the min- 
 isters make no attempt to have the hymns sung, but read 
 them through as they do a chapter in the Bible, and then 
 preach. But I insist that those who cannot sing shall at 
 least read the hymn aloud, and this keeps them at work. 
 The school is now getting lively and interesting, and I hope 
 I shall do some good by my undertaking." 
 
 " Had a very fine attendance at Sunday School. The 
 singing is becoming excellent." 
 
 " I tell you, Etta, the place for a man is at his post, at his 
 work, and then he is free, useful, and at home anywhere 
 in God's great universe " 
 
 The special strength of the young schoolmaster's 
 efforts in Christian work was his trustful love of God and 
 his faithful love of man. His personal care of individual 
 cases was incessant. 
 
 " Will A — ," he writes, " leaves on Monday for Brock- 
 port. He goes as clerk in a dry-goods store. I have had a 
 long talk with him and shall feel anxious for him away from 
 the ' helps ' he now enjoys." 
 
 35 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Again he speaks of a young lady for whom he has 
 fears, and of another for whom he has hopes, showing 
 plainly his care for and interest in all. No letter written 
 by him during Mrs. Steele's absence in 1864, but refers 
 to some special case and his own spiritual experience. 
 
 The constancy and success of his labors could not but 
 attract the attention of those of his denomination who 
 were in authority. And on May 24, 1864, he wrote : 
 
 " At the last Quarterly Conference I was appointed ex- 
 horter in the Methodist Episcopal Church ! What think 
 you of that ? They had not broached the subject to me and 
 I was for a time dumbfounded. But of course I cannot 
 refuse. It may be the open door." 
 
 It was thus that Professor Steele began to do minis- 
 terial work and was at last ordained a preacher, an office 
 in which his service was so effective as to warrant the 
 conviction expressed by many of his hearers, that he 
 might have attained ministerial distinction. But he, 
 himself, never felt that he was called to the ministry 
 in an ecclesiastical sense. He was, in fact, a teacher 
 pure and simple. To him the church was a school for 
 the learner of divine things and in the pulpit as else- 
 where, " he opened his mouth and taught them." 
 
 Professor Steele's work at Newark was by no means 
 confined to his lectures, his church activities and his 
 school. He was a prominent figure at Teachers' Asso- 
 ciations and was always earnest in promoting the enlist- 
 ment of Union Volunteers. Indeed more than once he 
 seriously thought of returning to the field in spite of his 
 depleted strength. Of this possibility he thus writes : 
 
 " News came in town to-day that our Militia company is 
 to be held and perhaps called into service. I hope it is true. 
 
At Newark 
 
 Could I have my way I would use my vacation by joining 
 my own brave boys at the front and trying once more to 
 lead them on." 
 
 Aug. 7, 1S64 : " It is proposed to have a company raised 
 in this town, and a strong pressure has been put upon me to 
 accept the captaincy. Mr. B. would take my place in school 
 for a time. I have told those interested that if it was 
 thought I could do more good by raising a company and 
 taking the field than by teaching, I would serve the town 
 and our common country in this way. I hope you will not 
 think I have erred in saying this. Of course I shall see and 
 consult you before I decide definitely. But I feel that my 
 position is the only right, manly, and patriotic one, and my 
 conscience approves it." 
 
 Fortunately, a strong opposition from the patrons of his 
 school, and the persuasions of friends, who believed that 
 a renewal of military hardships would be fatal, preserved 
 him to the educational work that was to lead him for- 
 ward to vast accomplishment. 
 
 In March 1866, Professor Steele, worn by incessant 
 exertions for church, school and town interests, began 
 to feel so seriously the symptoms of debility, that he 
 feared he might be obliged to discontinue work before 
 the end of the school year. He was indeed recovering 
 slowly from a severe illness when he was offered the 
 Principalship of Elmira Free Academy. This offer, 
 totally unexpected, was received with his usual careful 
 deliberation, and his conclusion to accept it was reached 
 only after such scrupulous reflection as had marked his 
 previous changes. 
 
 It was his habit to consider thoughtfully and prayer- 
 fully, every proposal involving new lines of labor, confi- 
 dent that the hand of God would lead and uphold him, 
 if he were but trustful in decision and trusty in action. 
 
 37 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 This characteristic made possible the satisfying serenity 
 which was his when circumstances and judgment had 
 committed him to a locaUty or a labor. His faith be- 
 came exaltation in the time of perplexities, and tran- 
 quillity in everyday adjustment of temporal things. When 
 he had, after long hesitation, decided to buy the house 
 which was his first Elmira property, the business was 
 concluded a few hours before a letter was received offer- 
 ing him the Principalship of the State Normal School at 
 Fredonia, N. Y., with a considerable advance of salary. 
 He wrote Mrs. Steele : 
 
 " I made the payment on the house at one o'clock. In 
 that evening's mail I received the inclosed letter. Of course 
 it comes too late, but I am not in the least unsettled by it. 
 The rather it fixes my conviction that I am destined to re- 
 main here, and I cannot but consider the whole train of cir- 
 cumstances providential. Else why should everything 
 combine to settle me here ? It would now require an effort 
 for me to leave. I have bought the house, and furniture, 
 and the garden is made. The offer of five hundred dollars 
 more a year is no inducement to break up. Wednesday 
 morning it might have been ; Friday night it was not." 
 
 This Christian philosophy became sublime in the 
 ordeals of existence. In a sermon of loving sorrow and 
 sympathy, at a memorial service in the autumn of 1872, 
 for the Rev. Charles Z. Case, a beloved pastor of the 
 First Methodist Episcopal Church of Elmira, he spoke 
 thus : 
 
 " O, my brethren, this is a strange world in which we live 
 — so full of mystery, of doubt, of peril, of perplexity, of 
 strange Providences. We cannot understand them all, but 
 
 we can keep our faith We know not now, but we 
 
 shall know hereafter." 
 
 -^8 
 
At Newark 
 
 " In the Baptistery of the Cathedral at Pisa is a wonderful 
 dome. Every sound made in the building, the slamming of 
 seats, the trampling of feet, all the murmur and bustle of the 
 crowd is caught up by this great vault, softened, harmonized, 
 blended, and echoed back in music. So it seems to me that 
 over life hangs the great dome of God's providence. Every 
 weak effort we make, our mistakes even, all the jar and 
 bustle, all our doubts and perplexities, shall be caught up by 
 it, and, softened, harmonized, and blended, shall come back 
 to us at last in the sweet music of Heaven." 
 
 Nearly ten years later he expressed in a letter to 
 General Barnes that steadfast reliance on God which 
 could trust Him though He slay : 
 
 Dec. 2S, 1881 : " One of my college classmates fell dead 
 last month in the vigor of his manhood. Such tidings not 
 only awaken my sympathy, but set me wondering when 
 my turn will come for the lightning stroke to fall. Well, 
 the only way is to do our work honestly and carefully, and 
 let God take care of us all. We cattU go until our work is 
 done.'''' 
 
 A man with such a faith found it possible, on de- 
 mand, to forget his weariness and to front new and try- 
 ing conditions of schoolroom work. In less than two 
 months from the day on which he first heard the propo- 
 sition of the Elmira committee, he had begun his six 
 years of High School administration in Elmira. Here 
 he soon won the attention of educators everywhere, and 
 was led out into that large and pioneer career of school- 
 book authorship which shook the dry bones of lifeless 
 instruction and imparted a strong and enduring vitality. 
 
 Much correspondence and printed matter show how 
 deeply the removal touched both himself and those 
 from whom he parted. A Newark editorial spoke of 
 
 39 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 the distinct advance in general intelligence which had 
 grown out of the enterprises of the school. It noted the 
 higher standard of classification and scholarship, and 
 especially the fact that, in direct opposition to the 
 determination of the State not to place such depart- 
 ments in Union Schools, it had established in Newark a 
 class in the science of Common School teaching. This 
 class had greatly raised the grade of instruction in sur- 
 rounding districts. 
 One editorial said : 
 
 " Nothing tends to correct the morals and add to the im- 
 portance of a village more than a good school. We venture 
 to say there is not a village on the line of the canal, between 
 Albany and Buffalo, where the youth are so well-behaved as 
 here. This should be largely attributed to our school." 
 
 Every interest in the community brought its word of 
 regret to the departing principal. An earnest and affec- 
 tionate letter from the Newark pastors, representing 
 other denominations than his own, was especially prized 
 by Dr. Steele and always carefully preserved. "You 
 may find," it said, "a. wider and more acceptable field 
 elsewhere, but you will nowhere find more attached and 
 sympathetic friends." 
 
 The genuine love and esteem in the hearts of high 
 and humble, which lamented separation and put earnest 
 good-will into words, followed the young professor when 
 he passed from the limits of the little town, and counted 
 him one of their own through many changing years. 
 For in their midst he had already clearly divined the 
 true import of his vocation. 
 
 40 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ELMIRA FREE ACADEMY 
 
 THE reasons why Elmira Free Academy had become 
 the despair of its friends, are those of a past local 
 interest and not necessary to these pages. Patronized 
 by rich and poor alike, it contained material for the best 
 scholarship and development. But it had become, by 
 the mismanagement of those in authority and by the 
 consequent trespasses of those in attendance, a place 
 where the high spirits, thoughtless mischief-making, and 
 deliberate rebellion of ungoverned young people found 
 ample vent and were a constant cause of confusion. 
 
 Elmira was in 1866 a young city, not yet accustomed 
 to its civic dignity, and but lately the centre of civil war 
 excitements and discomposures. Its social and educa- 
 tional conditions were those of a town neither urban nor 
 rural. Its population was of excellent general intelli- 
 gence, ambitious, increasingly prosperous and public- 
 spirited, and it numbered among its residents some 
 already famed as schoolmen, theologians, and politi- 
 cians. But it had not yet many who were united as the 
 exponents of broad doctrines, nor had there yet been 
 formed the large and small associations, now so common, 
 wherein are exchanged the thoughts that enter into the 
 higher life of communities. Indeed the consideration 
 of sociological and pedagogical problems had not, as yet, 
 spread to any great extent beyond literary and university 
 centres. 
 
 41 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Whoever then stood in the chapel of Elmira Free 
 Academy to advocate or introduce ideas of disciphne 
 strange both to student and citizen, must brave misap- 
 prehension, adverse criticism, and the lamentations of 
 such as mourn for those " that break through old hori- 
 zons and leave the known paths wherein their fathers 
 walked, to bring back new truths and tokens of a better 
 land." 
 
 The marvel wrought by the slender, gentle young man 
 of thirty, who undertook his work under these conditions, 
 must ever remain notable in the local and State history 
 of schools. The influence of his theory and practice of 
 self-government, as applied to the schoolroom, is still 
 felt and acknowledged both by members of the profes- 
 sion and those that were his pupils. 
 
 One of the latter, who became a member of the 
 academy faculty and did a high grade of work until her 
 marriage to a St. Louis physician, after Dr. Steele's death 
 wrote to Mrs. Steele : 
 
 " When I was a schoolgirl we were almost hero-worship- 
 pers of your husband. Now that I am a mature woman 
 with a somewhat wider observation of schools than many 
 have, and with a varied school experience of my own, I am 
 better fitted for correct judgment of Professor Steele's abihty 
 as a teacher. Looking through the clearer eyes of these 
 less impassioned years I can say with unexaggerated empha- 
 sis, that among all the able and brilliant educators I have 
 ever known, your husband led the whole line in his marvel- 
 lous rousing of esprit de corps among his pupils. His ideals 
 and his wishes were to his enthusiastic pupils like those of 
 the Little Corporal of France to French warriors. . . . My 
 own class of 1870 is scattered from Japan to Germany, and 
 through that far-extended arc the tribute of gratitude to him 
 who has gone higher has uninterrupted course." 
 
 42 
 
Elmira Free Academy 
 
 The editor of this book, at some pains, has gathered 
 information as to the later years of this class, and finds 
 that each, with scarcely an exception, has been an honor 
 to all, from Clement D. Bainbridge, the particularly 
 bright salutatorian, who became an actor of professional 
 and personal good repute, to the brilliant valedictorian, 
 Jacob Sloat Fassett, who studied law, was admitted to 
 the bar, served his State as Senator, was by President 
 Harrison appointed Collector of the Port of New York 
 City, and made a famous fight for the Governorship. 
 Others have attained more than ordinary distinction, 
 while the business men, wives, and mothers who survive 
 are all held in highest respect. The three or four who 
 have died have left precious memories. It would seem 
 that the fair and fortunate lives of this class are like a 
 beautiful answer to the last chapel prayer made for them 
 by their devoted teacher, in which he pleaded : " Heav- 
 enly Father, keep their eyes from tears, their feet from 
 straying, and their souls from death." 
 
 Further examinations of lists of academy students 
 who were enrolled during Professor Steele's principal- 
 ship give a remarkable showing of unblemished history. 
 And the affectionate acknowledgments of those who 
 speak or write of their old teacher are inspiring. One 
 of the most gifted, who has made herself felt in litera- 
 ture and a learned profession, has written : 
 
 " My first and best memory of Professor Steele, as to the 
 remarkable quality of his teaching, was his method of ap- 
 proach to a difficult subject. I remained a student, in this 
 country and abroad, for seven years after I left the Academy, 
 and though I heard many a brilliant professor lecture on 
 various subjects, scientific and literary, I never took my note- 
 book without blessing the man who taught me how to make 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 a place in my own mind for what I heard, how to unite 
 the new with the old so as to make one body of thought. 
 
 " Knowledge piecemeal was one of his abhorrences. 
 Woe to the student who adopted a forlorn phrase from 
 nowhere, however wise, if it did not supplement the thought 
 of yesterday. In any given subject, the day's recitation 
 must neatly join that of the day before or one's work was a 
 failure. 
 
 " But there was no severe, offensive reproof. The happy 
 jest with which he would salute a flagrant error, would fix 
 the correction forever in the mind and doubly endear the 
 teacher." 
 
 The impression made on the spiritual natures of the 
 young is well expressed by the following extracts from 
 letters written after his death. Says one : 
 
 " The daily Academy exercises began with Scripture 
 reading. The fourteenth chapter of St. John was one of his 
 favorites. In the prayer following his impressive reading he 
 would often address the Deity as 'Our divine Master and 
 Teacher' and ask Him to 'Take in Thy great, loving hand 
 all our hands, and guide us this day.' " 
 
 Writes a physician of Buffalo, N. Y. : 
 
 " Above all, the conduct of morning worship holds place 
 in my remembrance. The best I can say of those prayers 
 is that they could and did inspire a child — a busy, breathing, 
 happy school-child — to rejoice in the God of all wisdom 
 and knowledge. And after that joy it was not strange that 
 the child should know the beauty of honor and realize that 
 other forms of learning, of whatever department, could never 
 afterward seem separate from religion." 
 
 " I became his pupil," said another, " when about fourteen 
 years of age. The school had been very turbulent for 
 months before he came, but his gracious sympathy and 
 presence at once won the respect and co-operation of the 
 scholars. He gave them perfect freedom, but put them on 
 
 44 
 
Elmira Free Academy 
 
 their honor not to take undue advantage of the liberty. He 
 made them feel from the beginning that he was their friend. 
 He had a keen sense of justice, but was very willing to over- 
 look a fault. I never saw him angry or severe. 
 
 " Being one of the head pupils I had the privilege of 
 studying in his private office. This gave me better oppor- 
 tunities for studying his character, and I always felt he was 
 an earnest Christian. I can see him now, as he stood at 
 his desk, reading the one hundred and third Psalm — one 
 of his favorite selections." 
 
 Of his theory and practice of discipline, countless 
 commendations have been spoken and written. And it 
 is easy to see that nothing could have been more 
 practical. 
 
 " The self-government of his school," testifies one who 
 had experienced its force, " had no pretence about it. It was 
 a real republic of honor. In all true sense of government 
 we were no more school children than college men are. In 
 fact when I went to college I found to my dismay that I had 
 taken a long step backward in methods of school discipline. 
 It was only when I found myself in a State University, years 
 afterward, that I returned to the freedom and self-respect in 
 matters of school-life that Professor Steele created by reason 
 of his own belief in nascent man and woman in every boy 
 and girl in his School. His question, when a misdemeanor 
 took place, was not : ' How do I, your teacher, intend to pun- 
 ish you ? ' but, ' What effect will your act have on the stand- 
 ing of your class, and on the progress of the scholars below 
 you in the school ? ' This point of view always had a good 
 effect." 
 
 " Once when the literary society had a sleigh ride down 
 the river, to the home of one of its members," writes Miss 
 
 , " some one closed the door of the room in which 
 
 Professor Steele was, so that we might dance in the next 
 room. As soon as he was aware of it he walked indignantly 
 to the door, opened it, and said : ' I am willing you should 
 
 45 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 amuse yourselves by dancing, but not as if it must be under- 
 hand work, behind closed doors.' " 
 
 Another tribute mentions the injunctions of Dr. Steele 
 in his endeavors to aid his pupils in the education of 
 their consciences, and tells how he liked to quote the 
 words of Washington : " Labor to keep alive in your 
 breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience." 
 
 The phenomenal progress of the academy in all par- 
 ticulars of discipline and scholarship, won, in natural 
 order, the Board of Education, the patrons, the citizens 
 generally, and the city press. His system of manage- 
 ment was declared correct and profitable. The follow- 
 ing are a few words from a city editorial : 
 
 " In less than a year the Academy has entered upon a new 
 era of progress and the principal has won golden opinions. 
 He is professionally and personally popular — the right man 
 in the right place." 
 
 One paragraph from a letter written to Mrs. Steele in 
 January, 1867, when she was visiting at his father's 
 home, contains the only privately written words he has 
 left expressing his personal satisfaction : 
 
 " Tell Father that my plan of government by the con- 
 science is waxing better than at first. I pay almost no at- 
 tention to my schoolroom. I could leave it without any 
 difficulty from morning till night — without any disorder or 
 annoying conditions. I never felt so delighted with the 
 method. It is the philosopher's stone to me. It saves me 
 half my work and accomplishes better results. It governs 
 where I cannot be. It creates a moral sentiment. It corrects 
 where I am ignorant of any wrong." 
 
 There is preserved among Dr. Steele's effects a worn, 
 black-bound volume of many pages, on the fly-leaf of 
 
 46 
 
r"N 
 
 •i: 
 
 JOEL DORMAX STEELE 
 
 From Marble Bust by Cofikfy 
 
Elmira Free Academy 
 
 which is written by his youthful hand the inscription, 
 '< Essays, Orations, and addresses by J. Dorman Steele, 
 New York." Among them is his first college chapel 
 piece, read April, 1858, when he was not quite twenty- 
 two. It is in part here quoted as a remarkable fore- 
 runner of the principles of his later life. It is entitled, 
 "Why is Man a Slave?" 
 
 " The idea that man is born free," it says, " may be true, 
 but he does not grow up thus. This is the result of his 
 education. The child is helpless ; he is taught to rely upon 
 superior strength. The child is ignorant; he is taught to 
 listen reverently to the teachings of wisdom. If he should 
 manifest the spirit which should ever characterize true, 
 manly dignity, it must be repressed. If he seek to use the 
 birthright of ' liberty,' parental hands inflict punishment. 
 He is taught to believe that his noblest acts are acts of 
 obedience. . . . 
 
 " But because a child ought to obey, does it follow that 
 he has no intellect to be consulted, no judgment that may 
 dictate ? . . . Is the parent to mould the child after his 
 own image in thought, look, and act, or is it not rather his 
 duty to develop that mind which he already has — teach 
 him that his own intellect is to be his reliance — his own 
 opinions his guide — his own hands are to carve his destiny? 
 That is a true education which teaches the child to rely 
 upon itself; a false, which teaches a reliance on others. 
 
 " Many parents seem to have an idea that they can shape 
 the habits, thoughts, and aspirations of a child as they would 
 whittle out an arrow and shoot it straight down the pathway 
 of virtue and honor. . , . When they realize that there 
 must exist and be practised in early life, all those virtues 
 that are to adorn manhood's prime — then may we hope for 
 a race of free, independent minds. 
 
 " To the degrading system of education commonly pur- 
 sued, should be ascribed the cringing servility of the mass 
 of men at the present time. A child taught to be the pas- 
 
 47 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 sive executor of another's will, of necessity makes a fawn- 
 ing sycophant, a pliant tool of party intrigue, a limber 
 sapling swaying in the breeze of public sentiment. In fact, 
 he only carries into practical life the teachings of his boy- 
 hood when he yields his conscience, his will, his judgment, 
 his manhood, to the parental hand of his political guardian. 
 His history is the history of indecision. He goes through 
 life groaning under burdens grievous to be borne. He 
 becomes a bondsman sold to the service of public opinion." 
 
 The intrinsic worth of such thoughts and conclusions, 
 and their precocity in a mere youth, show how his 
 modesty underrated the natural powers of his mind, 
 when in April, 1886, he stated in his autobiographical 
 sketch : 
 
 " At Lima ... I found myself brought into competition 
 with young men of greater ability. . . . However, I had 
 one gift, that of perseverance. ... It was a great solace 
 to me to recall how, in the fable, the tortoise won the race 
 with the hare." 
 
 In good truth that was a rare tortoise who could 
 make such observations as it passed along, and could 
 arrive so soon at foundation truths, which often are 
 only reached far on in the competitions of life's journey. 
 
 Dr. Steele's innovation in school government was, of 
 course, bound to attract attention beyond the borders 
 of that section affected by it. Critics and inquirers 
 began to visit the school. Outside papers commented 
 on the new idea and its workings, and its originator 
 was called upon to explain his system. He re- 
 sponded at institutes, State associations, convocations, 
 and through educational journals. Finally he put his 
 fullest thought into two valuable lectures, that became 
 immediately popular, always remaining in high favor. 
 
 48 
 
Elmira Free Academy 
 
 These were " School Government, A Plain Talk to 
 Teachers," and " The Teacher's Aim." On the title- 
 page of the former, not long before his death he 
 wrote : " This lecture I stand by as my best thought 
 and experience." 
 
 These lectures are here introduced ; their vigorous 
 English, unaffected construction, single purpose and 
 sincere words of rebuke and encouragement, are an 
 eloquent elucidation of that which made " E. F. A." — 
 as Elmira Free Academy was and is locally known — a 
 name to conjure with. 
 
 49 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT! 
 
 BY JOEL DORMAN STEELE 
 
 ORDER is a prime necessity of school. Noise 
 and bustle confuse the studious and give rogues 
 an opportunity to ply their trade. Lack of firmness on 
 the part of a teacher forfeits the confidence of the 
 pupil. Scholars respect nerve and force. They know 
 that certain offences merit punishment, and if the oc- 
 casion be allowed to drift by, and no authority be 
 shown, no discipline inflicted, in their souls they say 
 the teacher has done wrong. 
 
 If the offender can beg off by a kiss or a coax, he may 
 be very thankful to escape, but afterward he despises 
 the teacher for his lack of energy. In the long run, that 
 teacher is best sustained who errs, if at all, on the side 
 of strict discipline. Nothing should ever be done with- 
 out silence. When the schoolroom is noisy, everything 
 should come to a stand until quiet is restored. 
 
 Just here, however, is a vital error. Order is a 
 means, not an end. Order is good, but it is only a 
 negative virtue. We want positive ones. When a new 
 pupil comes to school he should not be told to keep 
 still, but to go to work. When the attention is all ab- 
 sorbed there is no chance for disorder. 
 
 In connection with this lies a crumb of comfort. 
 
 Activity is the normal condition of childhood. Young 
 
 muscles and young brains will be in motion. They 
 
 1 Written 1S71. Rewritten 1S76. 
 
 50 
 
School Government 
 
 should be. That is the way they grow. The restless- 
 ness, the proneness of childhood to mischief, is only the 
 natural impulse to that action which is essential to all 
 health and vigor. Without it the child would never 
 mature into the man. The teacher should rejoice, not 
 mourn, over this propensity. A listless, inactive, inat- 
 tentive, pensive, stupid child presents no possibility of 
 training or development. Give me a boy or a girl, full 
 of fun and animation, bent on mischief and roguery, and 
 there is a chance to do something. There is a power, 
 a force, back of it all, and I have only to turn it into the 
 right channel and I shall have a glorious scholar by and 
 by — a glorious man or woman, with a brain like a 
 steam engine that is bound to run through — and I 
 have the satisfaction of having put it on the track. 
 
 As I said a moment ago, order is a necessity for 
 good work. Many pupils cannot study amid confusion, 
 and, moreover, noise gives a chance for rogues to ply 
 their tricks undetected. Like all good things, how- 
 ever, order may be overdiOViQ as well as undergone.. A 
 silence that oppresses, a dead silence — the breaking of 
 which by the accidental dropping of a pencil is ac- 
 counted a heinous crime — is not healthy. It is para- 
 lyzing, benumbing. I have known pupils in such schools 
 whose nerves were constantly strained lest they might 
 by chance disturb the iron grasp of law, and who told 
 me that they actually devoted more mental force to 
 keeping still than to learning their lessons. I have 
 heard teachers say : " In my room I ajn the Autocrat 
 of the RussiasT So, indeed, some principals are ab- 
 solute despots. They act as if they were amenable to 
 no law of God or of man. They are the incarnation of 
 law and order. Every rule is merely a manifestation 
 
 51 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 of their will. Every offence is looked upon as a per- 
 sonal indignity. The highest crime, and the one that 
 brings down the direst punishment, is disobedience to 
 the teacher, not to law ! 
 
 You remember the story told of that celebrated 
 English master, who, when the King paid him a visit, 
 followed him about the schoolroom with covered head. 
 On reaching the entry, however, he doffed his hat, 
 begged the King's pardon, assuring him that it would 
 ruin his government if the children supposed for an 
 instant that there was a higher authority than his any- 
 where in the kingdom. Now it seems to me that a 
 control of this kind is the easiest thing in the world to 
 establish and maintain. The teacher needs only a 
 strong will. There is very little weighing of motives. 
 His government is a concretion, not an abstraction. A 
 set of rules is laid down which covers all ordinary cases 
 — whispering, leaving seats, talking, writing, or passing 
 notes, on the negative side, /. e., the varied forms of 
 communication are forbidden ; and on the positive side, 
 silence and study are enjoined. Then the master mounts 
 his throne and watches for offenders. A reign of terror 
 is established. War is tacitly declared. The pupil looks 
 upon the teacher as his natural, born enemy — at any 
 rate as one who loves to circumscribe his liberty, and 
 who seeks to circumvent him in his highest earthly 
 delight. Hence, he is constantly on the watch to do 
 what is forbidden, while the teacher's wits are equally 
 taxed to detect and punish these sins. 
 
 How often does a company of boys and girls as- 
 semble in a room and deliberately set about devising 
 a plan to " get around " the teacher. In defence, 
 the Faculty combines to outgeneral the scholars. It is 
 
 52 
 
School Government 
 
 merely a trick of cunning on both sides. Woe to the 
 unlucky wight caught transgressing ! I myself have seen, 
 in this state of New York, a one-half inch black walnut 
 rule broken into halves, and these in turn into smaller 
 pieces, upon the hand of a boy who dared to whisper. 
 Even where corporal punishment is rarely administered, 
 the heavy voice of the master easily subdues all oppo- 
 sition. There are enough penalties which a fertile im- 
 agination can conceive, wherewith to overpower all but 
 the most refractory. The teacher may not intend it and 
 may not himself be aware of it, but the real power 
 which governs his school xs/ear f 
 
 Now fear is the lowest motive to which we can ap- 
 peal. Just in the degree to which it becomes operative 
 on the mind of a child does it call out the basest type 
 of character. It moulds most those who are cowardly 
 and craven-hearted. The high-spirited, noble, generous, 
 revolt at such submission and throw off even the whole- 
 some restraints of school, and thus lose all the benefits 
 of discipline. Every effort is made to shield the offender. 
 Any pupil punished is looked upon as a martyr. The 
 sympathy of the school is with the transgressor and not 
 the teacher. Expulsion, since it indicates spirit and 
 spunk, is privately considered by the boys about as 
 honorable as graduation. Indeed, I know of a school 
 where the ideal hero, among the boys, is one who can 
 take a ferruling without crying. 
 
 I have said that such a mode of punishment is the 
 easiest for a teacher. I am quite inclined to say it is, 
 also, for the scholar. He has no wear and tear of con- 
 science. He rarely or never needs to stop and consider 
 whether an act be right or wrong. The teacher is con- 
 science for the whole school. He commands certain 
 
 53 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 things and forbids certain others. Circumstances there 
 alter no cases. A scholar never need be in doubt what 
 to do. He simply drops into the net and lets the strong 
 will of the teacher push him ahead. The teacher's 
 course is clear. The scholar's is as plainly marked. 
 Neither kind of government which I have described 
 requires much brain anywhere. A ready-made clothing 
 store never needs a high-priced tailor. It is only when 
 you have to fit the form that cutting and shaping come 
 in play and skill is needed. 
 
 This mode of governing a school seems to me to fail, 
 just because it is thus general and applies to all a cast- 
 iron principle. I candidly admit that I cannot enforce 
 a series of particular rules. (Of course I do not mean 
 such ones as Boards of Education adopt, against using 
 tobacco, gambling, and for the protection of their prop- 
 erty.) I cannot keep these set rules myself. They are 
 in my way more than iu that of the pupils. Exceptions 
 arise at once ; and a rule, like a mirror, once broken, 
 is useless. 
 
 With very young children there must be special in- 
 junctions and prohibitions, and with some more than 
 others — growing out of the diversities of character, 
 home government, disposition, and other causes. But 
 with older children — say those from ten to fifteen, I 
 find arbitrary rules unwieldy, and, with those of older 
 years, absolutely unmanageable. I must weigh the 
 motives of an act. I cannot be conscience for a hun- 
 dred boys and girls. It is more than I can do to be 
 conscience for myself. I cannot enter into the pene- 
 tralia of their hearts and decide questions of right and 
 wrong. God has given to each a conscience as He has 
 to me. It is my right and duty to compel its use. It 
 
 54 
 
School Government 
 
 may be that He reveals His will as clearly to their minds 
 as to mine. Perhaps I do not magnify my calling suffi- 
 ciently, but I do think that sometimes the truth comes 
 to man through pupil as well as through teacher. 
 
 I read in the Good Book that God writes his law on 
 the tender hearts of babes and sucklings, and my mouth 
 is stopped and my heart is softened thereby. When, 
 therefore, a child commits a wrong, I desire to hold him 
 responsible, not to a rule of school, as if that were re- 
 vealed on Mount Sinai, but to his own conscience. 
 I wish, untrammelled by precedents, pledges, or threats, 
 to examine each by itself, with all its surroundings, in- 
 cluding the temperament and home-training of the child 
 — and then to do what is best. We are told, " Punish- 
 ment is admonitory in its character." This theory may 
 do when we are talking about childhood in general, and 
 nobody's child in particular. But I should not like to 
 have a teacher flog my boy, to keep some one else's boy 
 from doing wrong. 
 
 I never can tell beforehand what I may wish to do, 
 or what a pupil should do, in an emergency. W^hen Dr. 
 Hitchcock, who was settled in Sandwich, made his first 
 exchange with the Plymouth minister, he must needs 
 pass through the Plymouth woods, a nine-miles wilder- 
 ness, where travellers almost always got lost and fre- 
 quently came out at the point where they started. The 
 doctor, on entering this dreaded labyrinth, asked an old 
 woman whom he met, to give him some directions that 
 he might fetch up at Plymouth and not at Sandwich. 
 "Certainly," said she, "you keep right on till you get 
 to a place where the road branches off in almost every 
 direction. Then you stop and think, and think, and 
 think ! ! And then take the road which seems most 
 
 55 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 likely to bring you out right." The Doctor did so and 
 emerged from the woods, at Plymouth, as he wished. 
 
 I think there is a great deal of good common sense 
 in the old woman's advice. A teacher must go ahead, 
 and when the emergency arises, just stop and think, and 
 think, and think, and then take the course which seems 
 best. 
 
 The point I wish to make from all this discussion is 
 not that flogging is never essential — not that special 
 rules are cumbersome — not that fear should never be 
 appealed to not that stern discipline is not needed in 
 school, but this, that there should be no ivholesale mode 
 of government. No one plan will answer for all schools, 
 nor for all scholars, nor indeed for all teachers. No one 
 can ride another's hobby and win the race. He will be 
 lucky if he is not thrown entirely. Some years ago a 
 young teacher at an Institute heard a famous educa- 
 tionist commend the idea of discarding reading books 
 and using in their place the daily newspaper. The 
 pedagogic seed sprouted in the brain of our youthful 
 Pestalozzi. He was a Republican and he naturally 
 turned to his party organ. So the next day the class 
 expounded the gospel according to Greeley. Unfor- 
 tunately for the experiment, the district was Democratic 
 — almost to a man. Need I say that ere long, that 
 eager aspirant after educational honors might have been 
 seen sorrowfully wending his way to the railroad station, 
 his satchel in one hand, a bundle of "Tribunes " in the 
 other? 
 
 A plan which works to-day may fail to-morrow. 
 What hits one class may go wide of the next. The true 
 teacher is a man of expedients, of keen intuition, of 
 quick application, and of wise judgment. When I need 
 
 56 
 
School Government 
 
 his help I do not care half so much about the school 
 of the physician as I do about his skill. I understand, 
 likewise, that more depends on the skill of the teacher 
 than on the excellency of any plan. So, I care more 
 for a teacher's spirit than his mode of government. 
 
 I think every method of government has its place. 
 With most young children there are times when corporal 
 punishment, for example, is absolutely needed. When 
 parents do their duty this time will, generally, be passed 
 before the teacher's work begins. No well-home- 
 
 TR.\INED BOY NEEDS FLOGGING IN SCHOOL ! But We mUSt 
 
 supplement the deficiencies of many homes. The boy or 
 girl may come to our care with no foundation upon 
 which we can build. Other expedients fail. At last we 
 stand face to face with this — the final resort. I deem it 
 one of the supreme moments of a teacher's life. Flog- 
 ging may soften ; it may harden. Difficult, indeed, is it 
 to decide. If a teacher ever needs to feel his responsi- 
 bility, ever needs to pray for Divine guidance, it is then, 
 when he approaches the ultima Thule of his methods of 
 reform. No one can ever occupy the position he does ; 
 he never can do it himself again. The second punish- 
 ment, like the second narcotic, never has the effect of 
 the first. The spirit, the mode — all go to decide the 
 destiny of an immortal soul. 
 
 I have now hacked down the brush from every side 
 that I might come squarely up before this thought — 
 Each scholar has a soul, with its individual reason, will, 
 conscience, responsibility, and destiny. We should 
 seek to develop that soul according to the peculiarities 
 which God has stamped upon it, not according to any 
 whims or notions we have formed or any nice plans 
 we have adopted. Souls were made before schools, and 
 
 57 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 we must adapt ourselves and our systems to them. In 
 dealing with each we must weigh, and balance, and 
 pray, and think, and strive to develop that soul accord- 
 ing to the laws of its growth. There is a boy who is 
 soon to go forth into life, to take up its heavy burdens, 
 to meet its terrible temptations, perchance to shape 
 the destinies of church and state. I am projecting his 
 soul out upon a path that will Hft him high as Heaven, 
 or sink him deep as Hell. He is to be planted in some 
 household where he is to grow up, thrusting his roots 
 down deep, spreading his branches out wide, sheltering, 
 supporting, beautifying. With this outlook, the petty 
 questions of parsing sentences, and solving problems, 
 shrink into insignificance ! In the grand thought of 
 that boy's future, I catch the inspiration of the nobler 
 motive, the higher aim, and the grander truth. True, 
 he is only a poor printer's boy, but he may become a 
 Franklin and bring down lightning from the clouds. 
 He is only a rough sailor lad, but he may become 
 a Columbus, and discover a new world. He is only a 
 little apple-peddler, but he may accumulate a fortune 
 and become a John Jacob Astor. He is a wretched 
 speaker, and last week broke down, flat, in his declama- 
 tion, but he may become a Daniel Webster and shape 
 the policy of the nation. How grand it would be if I 
 could so mould and round out that boy's character as 
 to make it uniform and consistent ; if, by my exertions, 
 the future Franklin should be a Christian philosopher, 
 seeing God in the flashing lightning and hearing Him 
 in the rolling thunder ; if the future Columbus should 
 be mild and amiable, knowing that it is more glorious to 
 explore and subdue the world of passion within than 
 to discover and conquer a continent ; if the future 
 
 5S 
 
School Government 
 
 Webster should be frugal and temperate, feeling that 
 he who restrams and controls his own appetites is a 
 wiser man than he who guides the counsels of a nation ; 
 if the future John Jacob Astor should be a benevolent, 
 whole-souled man, making the arid desert of selfishness 
 about him to bud and blossom like the rose beneath 
 the stream of his loving benefactions. 
 
 Some one said to Franklin : " What is the good of 
 your discoveries? You say electricity and lightning are 
 identical — but what of that? " 
 
 " What good is there in a boy," replied the philoso- 
 pher, " but that he may become a man? " 
 
 Here are the high thought and purpose ; here the 
 grand motive and inspiration of the teacher. He realizes 
 that manhood and womanhood are just before, waiting 
 to crown the lives of his pupils. I said, just now, that 
 this thought shrivels up the petty questions of parsing 
 and ciphering. Let me say it somehow gives to them 
 a new and startling significance. The master looks at 
 his pupils and realizes that what are now only acorns in 
 the young brain will become oaks in the old heads — that 
 the passions and motives which people call childishness 
 will not be outgrown but only overgro7un, and so all that 
 he wants them to become hereafter, they must be now. 
 Are his children to be noble, generous, diligent, truthful 
 me?i and women, then they must be noble, generous, 
 diligent, truthful boys and gir/s. 
 
 Some years ago I was appointed to conduct an exami- 
 nation of teachers in a large city. Having distributed 
 the printed lists of questions, I sat at my desk quietly 
 watching the progress of events. Tell it not in Gath, 
 nor mention it in Askalon. Those teachers practised all 
 the petty tricks of children, which they had learned in 
 
 59 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 their earlier days and whicli tliey had so often rebuked 
 in school. With amazement I saw men and women 
 making use of all the mean subterfuges and transparent 
 pretences so familiar to every teacher. In a word I saw 
 teachers doing that which they had often pronounced, 
 in the schoolroom, despicable, unmanly, and treacherous. 
 Yet they never blushed, nor winced. I said nothing ; 
 I only bitterly wondered how they would conduct the 
 next examination in their own classes. With what face 
 could they reprove in others that which they did 
 themselves ? 
 
 School life should be like real life. All the motives 
 and sentiments which actuate society should be used 
 to regulate school. Whatever is mean and low in one 
 should be stamped as mean and low in the other. A 
 model society should be established. The teacher should 
 consider his pupils to be ladies and gentlemen in thought 
 and feeling, if not in stature. At a certain school not 
 long since I noticed a girl asking a teacher a civil ques- 
 tion. She received the gruff reply : " Why do you 
 bother me with such questions? Go to the dictionary." 
 If that girl's mother had made the query the teacher's 
 manner would have been quite different, and with all 
 suavity she would have proceeded to explain the point. 
 
 Teachers should defer to the reasonable wishes of 
 pupils, address them courteously, grant them favors 
 whenever possible, and never, without good cause, 
 doubt their honor. Briefly, the teacher should treat 
 his pupils as he does ladies and gentlemen in society. 
 In turn, he should expect from them the same consider- 
 ation. " Like begets like." Such a teacher will rear 
 such scholars. 
 
 Public sentiment should be created and cultivated. 
 60 
 
School Government 
 
 No measure should be adopted which the good sense 
 of the scholars does not indorse. No law can be en- 
 forced unless the general sentiment is in its favor. No 
 false feeling of dignity should, therefore, lead a teacher 
 to carry out any measure which the school disapproves. 
 Public opinion should be so strong and so right, that 
 if an idle pupil comes into the school, he will find the 
 pressure irresistible, and will either be overcome at once 
 and melt down into the mass, or be squeezed out and 
 forced to leave in disgust. The reason of every measure 
 should be explained. The vicious and indolent will then 
 find no encouragement. All the sympathy will be on 
 the side of the teacher. 
 
 Just so far as possible the pupils should make the 
 minor regulations and establish the customs of the insti- 
 tution. These may be revised as often as the teacher 
 and pupils, on mutual conference, shall deem desirable. 
 The teacher should so identify himself with the pupils, 
 that they shall be felt to be laboring together for a 
 common purpose, and that they ought therefore to be 
 generous, confiding, and helpful to each other. 
 
 The pupil should be constantly made to feel the bear- 
 ing of all his studies, of all the requirements of school, 
 of all its restraints and discipline, upon his after life. 
 He should not simply be told, in glittering generalities, 
 that an education is a good thing to have in the house, 
 but he should be taught to watch for the influence of 
 each habit and action upon his character. He should see 
 how promptness in school is only the antecedent to 
 promptness in business ; how thoroughness in one's 
 studies develops a noble, valuable trait of mind ; how 
 a spirit of industry will help to make him a successful 
 business man ; how neatness, kindness, politeness, be- 
 
 6i 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 nevolence, thoughtfulness and love, are to be grown as 
 beautiful traits which will adorn him for life's work ; 
 and that all these will do him more good than even 
 Latin or Greek, in the grand struggle for virtue, power, 
 and wealth, the honors of this life and the life to come. 
 How, in fine, he is to be each day just what he would 
 most like to be by and by. 
 
 These great truths should not be taught by dry, 
 formal, fault-finding lectures, every night at prayers, 
 when the pupil is tired out and only anxious to play 
 ball or go to supper. They should be the vital air of 
 the school. They should be inhaled at every breath. 
 They should be felt as the motive power to all conduct. 
 They should be assumed at all times and considered 
 everywhere, in class, in play, in conversation. No one 
 should ever doubt them a moment, or hesitate in their 
 application. 
 
 Every act of school will thus take on a new and start- 
 ling significance. The pupil will see that he must re- 
 strain his momentary inclinations and private desires, 
 because of the general welfare ; that while there may be 
 no sin, per se, in certain common practices of school, 
 yet their effect on his own character is pernicious, and 
 vice versa, while certain modes of conduct may be of no 
 great importance of themselves, yet, in their reflex in- 
 fluence on himself and their direct influence on the 
 school they are beneficial ; that every act which dis- 
 turbs the school or tarnishes its fair fame, is a personal 
 damage to himself; that he is deeply interested in the 
 constant preservation of good order; that his school 
 society may take on the highest possible tone, and that 
 he may pursue his education under the best and most 
 favorable circumstances ; that the teacher who is faith- 
 
 62 
 
School Government 
 
 fully developing these truths is his best friend, and, as 
 his own executive officer, is to be constantly and cor- 
 dially supported ; that always in the absence of a teacher 
 he is to be more thoughtful than in his presence, since 
 then the responsibility rests more directly upon him. 
 As a result of all this, teacher and pupil are no longer 
 at war. Their spirit and effort are mutual. They are 
 fighting a common battle against sin and temptation. 
 Shoulder to shoulder, they stand, eye to eye, facing one 
 foe. The teacher is wiser and stronger, and so leads 
 the column. The scholar, weaker, looks up for counsel 
 and guidance. The teacher watches the pupil to help 
 him when he gets down, and to point out to him his 
 strong and his weak points — not to criticise and to 
 punish, to catch him at his peccadilloes and to show 
 up his faults. So day by day the hearts of teacher and 
 scholar are knit together by ties of sympathy, trust, and 
 a fellowship of toil. 
 
 When a school is thus governed by an enlightened 
 public sentiment, based on a sense of right and not on 
 a teacher's dictum, there is constantly being developed 
 in every child that highest realization of all school dis- 
 cipline — self-control. This is really the basis of such 
 a mode of government; — I do not know but I would 
 better have spoken of it earlier. It must always be 
 presupposed. 
 
 I have said each pupil must be assumed to have a 
 conscience. To this, constant appeals should be made. 
 Its dictates should be held sacred. When its decisions 
 are manifestly wrong, let it be corrected and cultivated, 
 but never broken down or ridden over. He should be 
 made to feel his accountability not to his teacher but to 
 his God ; that the presence of a teacher neither makes 
 
 63 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 nor unmakes right, for that is eternal ; that teacher and 
 pupil both stand in the Divine presence, each, in his 
 sphere, held to his work, and there can be no dodging. 
 Let the teacher walk thus before his school, holding fast 
 to his own conscience as he holds them to theirs, con- 
 trolling himself as he teaches them to control themselves, 
 and day by day there will sink down into the minds of 
 his pupils a noble principle of conduct, as they learn 
 that sublimest of all arts — the mastery of one's self. 
 Insensibly they will discover, — not how to be gov- 
 erned, but how to govern ; not how to submit to rules, 
 but to take rules on themselves ; not to keep petty 
 school regulations, but to observe the great, grand, 
 broad laws which underlie all human character and so- 
 ciety. His pupils will go out from his school, and as 
 they send back the word of cheer from the raging battle 
 into which they have plunged, it will be : " Better than 
 all studies, better than all knowledge, was that power of 
 self-control I wrought out in my soul under your care." 
 
 The pupil who watches his teacher for a chance to 
 play the rogue knows nothing of self-government. The 
 teacher who has no confidence in his pupils, who dares 
 not trust them in the schoolroom alone with the door 
 closed behind him, but stands in the entry way with his 
 hand on the knob, the door ajar, one eye at the crack 
 and the other on his visitor, has something yet to learn 
 of school government. Eye-service is the meanest of 
 service. Are scholars really getting any valuable training 
 in school that will last them until they step into real life, if 
 it has not force enough to bridge over a five-minute gap? 
 Has the teacher who plays the spy much confidence in 
 the permanence of his work or the vitality of his instruc- 
 tion? His own distrust judges him but too fearfully. 
 
 64 
 
School Government 
 
 The difficulty with many teachers lies just here : they 
 teach well enough ; their instructions are " faultily fault- 
 less, icily regular, splendidly miliy No one can com- 
 plain of their discipline, only somehow it does not lasi — 
 it does not take hold of the pupils. The system they 
 adopt is that of constant reproof. Visit their rooms 
 and you hear all the while — " John, stop that." " Mary, 
 tend to your work." " Sally, go to your seat." Every 
 peccadillo is marked ; every lapse from duty is chided. 
 Their idea is to trim — to chip off all scraggy offshoots 
 and ungainly branches, and bring the life into shape as 
 one would bring a tree into a desired form. This con- 
 stant scolding frets the teacher, annoys the pupil, begets 
 ill-will, and prevents the growth of any tender feelings 
 or warm affections. Besides, it is defective in principle. 
 It works from the outside. Christ put it, " From the 
 heart are the issues of life." If we would have a revolu- 
 tion in conduct, we must have a genuine conversion, an 
 entire change of purpose that is felt in the heart and 
 along the life currents. We may lop off a fault here, but 
 the same vigorous growth within thrusts out another 
 shoot yonder, and we have accomplished nothing. It 
 is mere change of base, not of action. 
 
 We want a radical change. We should therefore 
 cease pruning and insert a bud at the root. New 
 motives must actuate, new impulses be felt, new ideas 
 of life be formed. 
 
 With very young children there must be, of course, 
 frequent criticism and repression. But when a boy or 
 girl is under our care six hours per day we can and 
 should find out his bent of mind. We should study 
 his character, his disposition, how to influence him, and 
 how he needs influencing. We should get hold of him 
 5 65 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 in some way, reach the springs of action in his soul and 
 then the work is done. After all, Inspii-ation is the 
 great work of the teacher. We may talk about methods 
 of government and modes of instruction, but give me the 
 teacher who can inspire with a new life, who can breathe 
 into every soul the quickening forces of living truth, who 
 can take a dull, listless boy and implant in his mind a 
 great thought that, working out his salvation, will mould 
 and transform his whole being. What becomes of arith- 
 metic, grammar, or even geography by the side of such 
 Heaven-born results? 
 
 Fellow-teachers, I prize the work of the schoolroom, 
 chiefly because in it character is made. I do not under- 
 value the English branches, — the use of our mother- 
 tongue or the grander language of nature, but I look 
 upon all these studies as only the tools by which we 
 fashion souls. The end of school-life is not to Icani but 
 to train ; not to kmnv but to be. The lessons must be 
 committed, the examinations passed, the petty detail 
 gone through ; but none of these things, for themselves, 
 as an end. The multiplication table — be it never so 
 well learned, the intricacies of grammar — however thor- 
 oughly mastered, do not really and fully fit students for 
 life and its responsibilities. It is the habits of thought, 
 the quickness of apprehension, the thoroughness of exe- 
 cution, the power of adapting means to an end and 
 organizing success, the extent of self-control they have 
 developed — these form the permanent part of their 
 school work. The scholar will soon forget the lessons 
 he has learned, but the growth he has made is his for- 
 ever. When seen in this light the round of our daily 
 toil, vexatious and tedious as it is, takes on a new and 
 strange import. He who gains the highest secures all 
 
 66 
 
School Government 
 
 below. Seek first the Kingdom of righteousness and all 
 these things shall be added unto you. While struggling 
 in school after manhood and womanhood, somehow we 
 have the best lessons, the liveliest recitations, the 
 soundest discipline, and the truest order. Our hearts 
 are cheered as we see here a sluggish nature roused to 
 action, there a careless one fired with a better impulse, 
 and watch, stirring like leaven in the minds of all, those 
 homely, old-time truths of virtue, purity, zeal, honor, and 
 faith — those celestial forces which bind the soul of man 
 to the soul of God. 
 
 These remarks may seem to you too serious, too 
 solemn — may seem to lift the teacher's work up to a 
 level higher than most can reach, higher than you deem it 
 proper to attempt. When these words were penned, I 
 had come to my desk from the freshly-closed grave of a 
 favorite pupil. I may therefore perhaps be pardoned, 
 if my thoughts took on something of an outlook and an 
 uplook j if I thought less of the study and more of the 
 soul, less of chemistry and more of character, less of 
 school and more of life ! Walking as it were in the 
 crypts of another existence, with the long shadows of 
 eternity falling athwart my path, the beautiful, touch- 
 ing words of Jeanie Deans, in her address to the queen, 
 kept ringing in my ears : — 
 
 " When the hour of trouble comes to the mind or to 
 the body — and seldom may it visit your leddyship — and 
 when the hour of death comes, that comes to high and low — 
 lang and late may it be yours — O, my leddy, then it isna 
 what we hae dune for oursels, but what we hae dune for 
 ithers, that we think on maist pleasantly." 
 
 67 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 THE TEACHER'S AIM ^ 
 
 BY JOEL DORMAN STEELE 
 
 THE flight of a projectile depends upon the aim of 
 the gun. If that be downward the bullet is only 
 battered to pieces on the gravel or perhaps digs its own 
 grave in the soft soil not a fathom's distance from the 
 muzzle. If that be upward there is a flame of fire, a 
 long train of light and a glorious sweep up toward the 
 stars. If again thai be the aim of a practised eye and 
 a disciphned hand, there is a flash, a flame, a scream of 
 the bullet as before, but there is also an object secured, 
 a target struck, a traitor punished and the majesty of the 
 law vindicated. 
 
 Here we have the ignorant shot of the blunderer, 
 the wild shot of the enthusiast, and Xhe fatal shot of 
 the veteran soldier. 
 
 There are teachers corresponding to these several 
 marksmen. 
 
 I. Here is one whose plodding soul never soars above 
 the eaves of his log school-house and so takes in no 
 broad views of his own life or his mission in developing 
 a better life in others. He looks upon his pupils and 
 sees thick skin to be pounded, and he diligently searches 
 for the soft spots. He beholds the body and the book 
 and he endeavors to put the one into the other. But 
 
 1 Written 1867. Rewritten 1876. 
 68 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 the soul of the one and the spirit of the other he never 
 comprehends. They he beyond his comprehension. 
 He aims at no mark, because he sees none. He de- 
 velops no soul-life, because he has no appreciation of it. 
 He inspires no ambition, because he possesses none. 
 
 2. The enthusiast is a teacher of a diiferent stamp. 
 He tries to do good but his notions are visionary and 
 his efforts spasmodic. He is a man of one idea and he 
 rides his hobby to the death. To-day it is all order. 
 Yesterday it was arithmetic. To-morrow it will be 
 grammar. He is a radical, if it is proper to apply that 
 term to a man who does not go to the roots of things but 
 contents himself with a single grip at the stalk. He is 
 full of Quixotic schemes — ideas new to himself and, it 
 is to be hoped, confined to himself. He is perpetually 
 striking off at a tangent, picking up a notion here and a 
 notion there — trying everything and holding fast to 
 nothing. He goes up like a rocket on one plan, only to 
 come down like a stick on another. Full of zeal, full 
 of energy, all animation and good-will for his pupils, 
 he is also full of sound and fury signifying nothing. His 
 pupils generally like him, and his patrons talk of his de- 
 votion to his profession, while his sallow face and sleep- 
 less nights often speak eloquently of his self-abnegation. 
 But this teacher never accomplishes anything except 
 killing himself. He aims not at one mark but a thou- 
 sand, and so hits none. He uses a shot gun that scat- 
 ters the charge into a cloud of ineffective missiles. He 
 inspires, but it is with the heat of a pitch-pine bonfire 
 that lights up the whole heavens for an instant and then 
 dies out in darkness ; not the steady warmth of the sun- 
 beam that melts the ice and mantles the earth with 
 vegetation. He works by no pattern, imitates no 
 
 69 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 model, and having no well conceived plan achieves no 
 result. His life is dissipated like the force of gun- 
 powder fired in the open air; it makes a roar and a 
 flash, but speeds no bullet. 
 
 3. The true teacher is the marksman. He uses a 
 rifle, molds his instruction into a bullet and aims straight 
 at the bull's-eye. He does no random teaching, but 
 every lesson, every study, points to a result. He has a 
 system of instruction, and works by it. He understands 
 something of the laws of the human mind and is governed 
 by them. He reads character and adapts himself to it. 
 No new theory, no new-fangled notion crazes him. He 
 is guided by fundamental principles and he sees that 
 no system can fit him unless he has evolved it from 
 his own soul and molded it into form through his own 
 experience. He never pushes the young mind far out 
 on one line of thought, but strives to develop it uni- 
 formly and evenly, believing that it should be like 
 a sphere with all points of the circumference equally 
 distant from the centre. He does not run wild on 
 geography or Latin or physics, as if any one of these 
 were the be-all and end-all of an education. Each sub- 
 ject sinks to its place as subordinate to the grand whole, 
 and useful only in its place and share. He does not 
 waste his strength in wild, intermittent, aimless efforts, 
 but in sober earnestness he works truly, faithfully, walk- 
 ing by the compass and the eternal stars, striving in 
 God's fear to develop an immortal soul according to His 
 laws. He has an inner faith and hope that he will turn 
 out from his forming hands well-rounded character, — 
 even as the furnaceman, working not in living soul and 
 immortal spirit but in dead sand and dumb metal, draws 
 forth from his mould the delicate casting he has made. 
 
 70 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 For what is the teacher to labor? What aim is to 
 inspire him amid the dull routine of his toil? In the 
 schoolroom, oppressed by the responsibility of his 
 position, annoyed by the dulness of his pupils, dis- 
 pirited by his lack of support, hindered by meddling 
 parents, unsupplied with proper apparatus and appur- 
 tenances, discouraged by his own lack of patience, 
 fretful, unhappy, soul-racked and alone, what thought, 
 what motive shall lift him above the endless monotony 
 and tedious vexations of his task, shall thrill his soul 
 with the inspiration of a new life, shall send the blood 
 bounding through his sluggish veins, shall kindle a fresh 
 purpose, and make that dull schoolroom seem to him 
 the brightest spot on earth, and that stupid round of 
 duties the most blessed work that he can do? In a 
 word, what is the high aim of the teacher? Is it merely 
 to teach arithmetic, grammar, geography, to decline 
 hie, haec, hoc, or even to dig up Greek roots whole, 
 down to the most delicate fibre ? Is it essential to an 
 American citizen that he should know the exact length 
 of the Hoang Ho, or be able to state whether the Yang- 
 tse-kiang is a branch of the Kinsha-kiang or, vice versa, 
 the Kinsha-kiang of the Yang-tse-kiang? In order to 
 employ the elective franchise intelligently and be a re- 
 spectable member of society, must he be able to name 
 all the Sandwich Islands and locate Okefinokee Swamp? 
 to repeat all the tables in denominate numbers and to 
 "do every sum" in percentage and equation of pay- 
 ments and arbitration of exchange? and to arrange 
 " Paradise Lost " in huge diagrams of " linked sweetness 
 long drawn out? " 
 
 For what object do I teacli grammar? Is it that the 
 pupil may know precisely when a word is a pronominal 
 
 71 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 adjective and when an adjective pronoun? — a distinc- 
 tion which, by the bye, I always have to determine for 
 the occasion when I wish to be precise, and invariably 
 forget in five minutes thereafter ! We are told that 
 "English grammar is the art of speaking and writing 
 the English language correctly." Is, then, my knowl- 
 edge of this study to be based upon the skill with which 
 I can play top and catch with the dry bones of some 
 extinct sentence, upon my rattling, tripping definitions, 
 and upon my construction of the subtleties of the in- 
 finitive mood ? Are these things the end of grammati- 
 cal construction or only the means ? Are these the 
 finished wor-k or only the tools ? If I can conjugate a 
 verb like a parrot and yet say " went " for " gone," am 
 I a good grammarian? How shall I be judged, by the 
 accuracy of my definitions or the beauty of my sentences ? 
 
 I send a boy to serve an apprenticeship at a black- 
 smith shop ; at the conclusion of his term of service 
 he returns, and I ask him to forge me a clevis for my 
 plough. " Oh," says he, " I can't do that." " But why 
 not? Have n't I sent you to learn the blacksmith's 
 trade?" "Yes, and I have learned it. I can swing the 
 sledge and blow the bellows beautifully." Am I not 
 justly disgusted ? What do I care about sledge-swinging 
 or bellows-blowing? These are essential of course, every 
 blacksmith does that — but what I want from that boy 
 is a clevis to put on my ploui^h. 
 
 I send my boy to school to study grammar. He 
 comes home and makes an egregious blunder in his 
 use of language. I criticise him and ask him if he has 
 not studied grammar. " Oh yes," he says, " I can 
 decline the nouns and parse beautifully." Am I not 
 disgusted, and rightly? Every grammarian, of course, 
 
 72 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 does something of that, more or less, but what I want 
 of that boy is a good English sentence. 
 
 Does grammar constitute anything more than the 
 mere scaffolding, necessary it is true to the erection of 
 the building but being itself no part thereof and to 
 be removed directly upon the completion of the edifice ? 
 Or, better yet, are not the definitions and the minute 
 classification and all that, only the sepals of that sweet 
 flower — the English language — which are to fall off 
 when the perfect seed — our grammatical style and 
 conversation — is completely formed ? 
 
 I have spoken of grammar, but the same truth holds 
 good of every study pursued in school. It seems to 
 me that the mere teaching of rules, definitions, methods 
 of analysis, and critical distinctions should be no part 
 of the aim of a teacher : they are to be taught to a 
 certain extent, oj course, but, after all, the bold, out- 
 lying principles should be implanted deeply in the 
 mind as a foundation. The teacher should constantly 
 look away from vexatious and minute peculiarities and 
 grapple with the general truths and the widespread 
 basal formations of each science he teaches. He must 
 not, in surveying the territory he wishes his pupils to 
 " go up and possess," make them wade through every 
 swamp and carefully examine every stick, stone, tree 
 and shrub. 
 
 I know with some this seems to imply a want of 
 thoroughness and accuracy. They think a pupil ac- 
 comphshed in a study when he can repeat all its rules 
 and definitions and explain a few of its many subtleties. 
 I beg leave to differ here. A class in Virgil came under 
 my instruction a few years ago. The pupils had studied 
 Latin two years. They could recite all the rules in 
 
 73 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Andrews and Stoddard's Grammar in six minutes by 
 the watch. This was one of their recitation feats. 
 They knew just what cases of a noun, or tense, number 
 or person of a verb were wanting. Their knowledge 
 of detail was wonderful. They took, however, only 
 one and one half lines of the ALneid. My utmost 
 efforts failed to push them along at a greater speed. 
 I never could get them up to take a bird's-eye view of 
 a paragraph. They could only plod along among 
 verbal quibbles and facts, and I at last gave up the class 
 in despair. No valuable result is achieved by any such 
 process, only preparatory work has been done. The 
 lumberman has all the while been grinding up his axe, 
 but has n't learned how to chop at all. The whetting, 
 the fine keen edge, each is good enough and necessary 
 in its place, but the chopping after all is the end, and 
 not a good sharp axe. He is the best instructor who 
 teaches how to fit the tool for use and ho7a to use if. 
 There is in my opinion a great deal of humbug about 
 even so good a thing as accurate scholarship. There 
 are two kinds of accuracy and this breeds much 
 confusion. 
 
 One is the microscopic accuracy of the beetle that 
 crouches under its leaf and pokes its tiny snout up and 
 down, seeing every minute thing, insect and animalcule, 
 that comes within the range of its little, black, shiny 
 eye. But after all that is only a beetle hiowkdge. It 
 is simply the hfe under one small cabbage leaf in the 
 garden, while the great world-life goes throbbing and 
 roaring on outside. 
 
 The other is the telescopic accuracy of the eagle that 
 disdains the fogs and damps and confinement of the 
 lowlands, and mounts up into the clear blue ether and 
 
 74 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 thence looks down on river and valley and forest. 
 That king of birds has an eye keen and sharp. He 
 sees pretty much everything that swims through the 
 waters, or flies over the land, or runs through the woods. 
 But, better than that, his comprehensive eye takes in 
 the contour of the landscape, the far sweep of the hills, 
 the course of the rivers, and all those grand outlines 
 that make him a geographer to be envied. 
 
 The true teacher is the eagle, not the beetle. He 
 uses the telescope for bringing far distant objects near, 
 not a microscope for magnifying little things that are 
 close by out of all relation to everything else. He 
 knows that in the real struggle of life the little things, 
 the catches, the exceptions of any study will be swept 
 by the board, and only the great, bold principles will 
 be retained. Hence he sees to it that his pupils master 
 that which will alone be to them of permanent value. 
 All the minutiae are made subsidiary to this end. 
 
 The whole subject narrows itself down to that thread- 
 bare query : — Is the main object of a teacher to in- 
 struct or to train 1 This grand, old debating question 
 of the fathers is good food for thought to-day. These 
 are vastly diverse tasks. It makes much difference 
 whether I am trying to see how much my pupils can 
 know or how much they can do, whether I am furnish- 
 ing their minds, or drawing out and disciplining their 
 latent energies. I know teachers who seem to think 
 the youthful mind a sort of cistern, and their work to be 
 mainly one of getting up eave-troughs and conductors. 
 
 How different is the work of the trainer — for this 
 seems to me the name of the true teacher. He under- 
 stands his business to be not simply the hearing of 
 reading, spelling, geometry and Latin lessons. He 
 
 75 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 teaches these branches, and his pupils become excellent 
 scholars, but this is all incidental — the mere side is- 
 sues which are always accomplished when one attempts 
 a great result. He impresses upon their minds that 
 their studies are only tools with which to work out a 
 finished manhood or womanhood ; and that each lesson 
 conscientiously learned and honestly recited is a polishing 
 stroke on the fine stone of their life structure. The 
 touchstone, the test of all conduct, is Jiot the will of the 
 teacher but the effect ttpon life, — that long life that 
 stretches out through the eternities to come. 
 
 Day by day this conscientious teacher strives to 
 drop into each soul one basal truth — / at?i personally 
 respotisible for my conduct — a truth so weighty that 
 it will gravitate down through the turbid waters of life 
 to the very bottom and abide there forever. He does 
 not hedge in by rules — for these are generally more 
 annoying to the teacher than the pupil. No regulation 
 can be kept to the letter, and once broken it is like a 
 shattered mirror — worthless thereafter. He does not 
 make every lapse from duty a thing personal to himself, 
 thus becoming the incarnation of law — at once the 
 source, the standard and the executor of justice — so 
 that every good deed is done to him and every evil 
 act is done against him, and scholars come to do 
 right because they love him and to do mischief when- 
 ever they hate him. But he does something that is 
 far better. 
 
 He knows that you cannot by trimming a tree turn 
 sweet apples into sour. You may cut and train for 
 years and improve the size and the flavor, but the day 
 you stop your work the limbs shoot out, and that fall 
 you see the relapse — you get your old sour apples 
 
 76 
 
The Teacher's Ann 
 
 again. The reason is apparent. All your work has 
 been from the exterior. You want an interior change. 
 Put in a graft, or, better yet, make the change a radical 
 one — a root work — and put in a bud close to the 
 ground. 
 
 Just so the wise teacher, avoiding the incessant re- 
 proofs that so imbitter school life and vex all the souls 
 concerned in it, strives to raise his pupils to a truer ideal. 
 He makes them responsible not to him but to God. 
 He brings them out into the light where they catch the 
 Eye — the all-seeing Eye — and realize that the presence 
 of a teacher makes neither right nor wrong ; that all the 
 guides to noble conduct exist in school as in society, and 
 what is proper in one is proper in the other. He im- 
 presses upon them the importance of life ; that they in 
 school have commenced life and are living it already ; 
 that they must grow into what they are to become ; that 
 new and heavier responsibilities will give them no fresh 
 power but only an opportunity to use what they have pre- 
 viously acquired ; that they are forming habits of action 
 and modes of thought that are to abide with them 
 through all time ; that they can never perfectly heal 
 over any wrong-doing but that it leaves a scar forever ; 
 that school is for them, not for parent or teacher; 
 that a day or an hour lost is so much subtracted from 
 their training for life's work ; that they are responsible 
 not only for their individual improvement but for all 
 their influence over others; that if a single scholar 
 wastes an hour they are all to blame if they could have 
 helped it ; that to fool the teacher is easy enough but 
 to fool one's self is impossible ; that they must husband 
 every scrap of time as the choicest of treasure, since 
 upon it hangs their ultimate success ; that they must 
 
 77 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 economize time and books and clothes and money and 
 opportunities for good, and be miserly of all that dig- 
 nifies and ennobles ; that no act is insignificant, but that 
 each, like a tiny flake of snow, trembles downward to 
 combine with its fellows and form the avalanche that 
 shall sweep them irresistibly onward to success or to 
 ruin ; that there is no accident in Hfe, but that all 
 things come in direct recompense, by weights and 
 measures, and that in the high sense of justice every 
 one makes the bed in which he is to lie. Finally, and 
 in a word, the true teacher endeavors to found in his 
 school a model society in which the principles of truth, 
 like leaven, shall work out their true results. 
 
 What will be the outcome of this mode of teaching ? 
 Why, his pupils will keep better order in his absence 
 than in his presence, since they feel more personal re- 
 sponsibility, and public opinion, like a heavy iron hand, 
 would restrain all the evil-disposed. His classes will 
 not wait for him, but will commence reciting when the 
 time comes and will finish their work as if he were 
 present. Even though he should be absent all day, his 
 school would select a teacher and run till the nightfall 
 without friction or noise. Is this too much to expect? 
 I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, we can take iron and 
 brass and make a watch that will keep time when its 
 owner is sound asleep, that will run on correctly with- 
 out winding for a year. He is a poor watchmaker who 
 cannot make one that will run twenty-four hours. Can 
 we do more with dead, dumb metal than we can with liv- 
 ing throbbing human hearts? Can we accomplish more 
 accurate, definite, reliable results with our skilled hands 
 than our trained minds? Shall a teacher of immortal 
 souls give in to a maker of machinery? Nay, verily ! 
 
 78 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 " But," says some one, " you would make a Christian 
 school — you would be taking religion into the school- 
 room." My friend, we will not quarrel about names, 
 but I would not teach a Mohammedaii school, and, believ- 
 ing as I do in God and the Bible, I would not teach an 
 infidel school. Understanding from the truths of Revela- 
 tion and the teaching of all history that greatness 
 depends on virtue and that religion is the fountain 
 and support of virtue, I deem it my solemn duty to teach 
 my pupils that obedience and reverence and honesty and 
 earnestness and kindliness are noble and lovely in them- 
 selves ; that there is nothing pure in Heaven or glori- 
 ous on Earth to which they may not attain ; that the 
 inspiration of all duty is from and in God ; that the 
 grandest thing on earth is an educated, loving, sympathiz- 
 ing, whole-souled man or woman, and the grandest thing 
 in Heaven — save God — is a hero crowned from the 
 battles of life. 
 
 And, more than this, living in a Christian land and 
 trained by Puritan ancestry, I believe in Christ. The 
 most precious name to me, above that of mother or 
 wife or home, is the name of Jesus. Can I teach my 
 pupils to love everything else and not love Him? Shall 
 I myself drink at this living spring of love and not lead 
 them thereto, but stopping at CastaHa's fount bid them 
 be satisfied while I go up higher? 
 
 My friends, the lack of this world to-day is educated 
 Christian men and women. If our schools were faith- 
 ful to their mission, this would not be. Hear Arnold — 
 that master teacher — " The idea of a Christian school 
 is the very idea of a school itself. The boys are to be 
 treated as those who are to grow up Christian men." 
 All admit that we are to teach morals in school. How 
 
 79 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 are we to do it ? Hear the famous Rugby master again. 
 " As well imagine a man with a sense for sculpture not 
 cultivating it by the remains of great art, or a man with 
 a sense for poetry not cultivating it by the help of 
 Homer and Shakespeare, as a man with a sense for con- 
 duct not cultivating it by the help of the Bible." 
 
 Fellow teachers ! There be many of us who do not 
 half appreciate the responsibility that rests upon us. 
 Lord Shaftesbury recently stated in a public meeting in 
 London that he had ascertained by personal observation 
 that of adult male criminals nearly all had begun a course 
 of crime between the ages of eight and sixteen — and 
 that, if a young man should pursue a virtuous life till he 
 was twenty years of age there were forty-nine chances in 
 favor of his continuing honest thereafter and only one 
 against it. 
 
 There is but one time in all life when the best results 
 can be attained. The youthful mind is like a lake asleep 
 in the summer's sun. Ev-ery zephyr ripples its surface. 
 Every tiny leaf dimples its placid bosom. Every cloud 
 is reflected from its glassy mirror and every drooping 
 bough meets an answering kiss. Every child sees pic- 
 tures of forest and hill far down in its mysterious depths. 
 Its waters press up close against the shore and take the 
 impress of every rugged rock and indentation. They 
 bend and yield to and encircle every object they touch. 
 The diamond receives no more loving an embrace than 
 the roughest stick or stone. But winter comes and 
 the icy fetters are forged. The glassy mirror is stiffened 
 to stone. The surface becomes hard and rigid. The 
 depths where the eye feasted on another and a richer 
 world of beauty are sealed. Chariots and horsemen may 
 now thunder along its solid track and leave no impres- 
 
 80 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 sion on that frigid, flinty pavement. The teacher has to 
 do with the mind in its spring-time, when the gushing, 
 sparkUng spirits of youth dance and leap up to meet him, 
 taking form and color from his Hghtest word and reveal- 
 ing to his earnest eye their innermost depths of thought 
 and feeling. But the winter of life comes and the waters 
 are chilled to ice, the sunshine and sparkle have died 
 into darkness, and the soul is closed to the eye of all 
 save God. 
 
 This figure is not overdrawn. The character of a man 
 cannot be essentially changed. The channels of feeling 
 and thought are dug deep and broad. The currents may 
 perchance by a power Divine be turned, but the beds in 
 which they once flowed remain with their beetling cliffs 
 and their wave-worn banks. And he who studies such a 
 character easily detects their presence, as the geologist 
 surveying a country sees preserved amid the wreck of a 
 thousand years the traces of the old water-courses — 
 the beaches of the antediluvian ocean and the sand and 
 gravel once washed by the Paleozoic wave. 
 
 I admit that education and society often seem to 
 modify even the matured character; but the keen eye 
 of the critic soon detects the varnish and the veneer. 
 You remember the old story of the educated wolf. In 
 the days of fable it is said a person caught a wolf which 
 seemed so exceedingly docile that he attempted to teach 
 it its letters. Success crowned this effort. The wolf 
 learned the entire alphabet. He next took up syllables, 
 and here again it did admirably and he was encouraged 
 to try words. But now came the first obstacle. Every 
 combination of letters and syllables spelled only one 
 word — sheep. The poor teacher tried again and again, 
 but only got a repetition of sheep ! sheep ! The wolf- 
 6 8i 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 nature was too much and he was obliged to abandon his 
 well meant and apparently promising effort. If the 
 wolves which prey on society are ever reformed, it will 
 be when the young are taught before they have learned 
 the taste of sheep and so by successive generations the 
 wolf nature itself is "evolved " out of the character. 
 
 I have the profoundest confidence in thorough, earnest 
 teaching. The transformations which it accomplishes 
 are the miracles of to-day and of all days. It thrills my 
 soul when I think how in many an old log school-house, 
 in many a poor primary department, in many a room 
 crowded and noisy with restless children, a whole-souled 
 devoted teacher — generally a woman, underpaid, wearied 
 and anxious — is shaping the life and deciding the 
 destiny of the men who are to control the state and 
 guide the legislation of the generation to come ! 
 
 These truths I have named are powerful. They will 
 revolutionize character and make the school a training- 
 place for real life. Pupil and parent will feel their 
 value, for they come home to the consciousness of every 
 one. But then it is not enough for them to be merely 
 cast into the school and left to work their own way. 
 The teacher must be the energizing element of the 
 whole — the leaven wherewith to leaven the loaf. He 
 must awaken and arouse. He must be like the prime- 
 conductor of an electrical machine while in action, that is 
 charged to overflowing, that shocks everybody it touches 
 and induces currents even in those who are not close 
 enough to catch the sparkles that leap off continually to 
 every one who comes near. His entrance into a school- 
 room should be like the influx of fresh air and sunshine, 
 and his going out should be that of a magnet from a 
 heap of iron filings — all covered with clinging confiding 
 
 82 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 ones, drawn to him by a magnetism tliey have no thought 
 of resisting. His pupils will love him because he first 
 loved them. A wave of mutual devotion sets into his 
 school each day, like the tide, hiding all bitterness and 
 unkindness and buoying every one up and on. Full of 
 cheer himself, kind words and loving smiles follow him 
 everywhere, as the day chases the sun laughing round 
 the earth. 
 
 "But," says one, " a single term is too short a time in 
 which to accomplish such results as you name." My 
 friend, remember the seed-time is never long. We 
 scatter the grain, however, just the same, having faith in a 
 harvest. We never expect an immediate return. We 
 never return to the barn for the cradle when we first 
 come back from the field with the drill. But the seed 
 lies beneath the winter's snow and ere the spring the 
 husbandman may have gone to his rest. But April suns 
 warm the quickening germ and the fresh warm tides of 
 life throb through the cold earth. Summer passes and 
 the harvest comes at last. Other hands will gather it, 
 and it will be just as abundant, and the song of the har- 
 vest home will ring out just as gladly. 
 
 Philosophy tells us that all physical force is inde- 
 structible. I touch this table with my finger : the power 
 I exert is communicated to the table, the floor, the 
 foundation, the great earth itself. I see no efifect pro- 
 duced, but the laws of mechanics are immutable and I 
 know it must be so. A force exerted must produce an 
 effect. A teacher works faithfully in a school, struggles 
 to mould some heart after a more beautiful pattern, and 
 apparently fails. But spiritual mechanics has its laws. 
 No force is ever lost. No heart throbs for the truth in 
 vain. " It is impossible," says Seneca, " to approach the 
 
 83 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 light without deriving some faint coloring from it, or to 
 tarry long near precious odors without bearing away some 
 trace of their fragrance." The seed may fall by the way- 
 side, but then it does some good, — it feeds the fowls of 
 the air. Some springs up and withers because it lacks 
 depth of soil, but it is not wasted, — those decayed 
 stalks and withered leaves will nourish other vegetation. 
 Some falls immediately in good, fertile soil and bears 
 fruit, ripe luscious fruit, and angels will come at the har- 
 vest and gather that fruit into the master's garner. 
 
 *' Is Mr. Butler dead ? " asked Queen CaroUne of Arch- 
 bishop Blackburn. " No, madam, but he is buried ! " 
 So every kind word we utter, every loving smile is 
 enwrapped with the Divine life. No one ever saw the 
 grave of a good deed ! 
 
 Water falls in a shower, in a multitude of tiny drops 
 that soon settle into the dry and thirsty earth. No one 
 watches where each one strikes or whither it goes. Yet 
 each little globule hastens downward, moistens some 
 delicate fibre, is absorbed by some greedy mouth and 
 reappears at last in the brighter green and the rosier hue 
 of the blossom above. We cannot tell where each drop 
 has gone, but we can tell what all have done as we see 
 the whole landscape gleam forth with a fresher life and a 
 brighter glow. So the little insignificant acts and words 
 of our teacher life filter away into the dry soil of the 
 hearts and lives of those about us and we cannot tell 
 where they have gone, but they will reappear at last in 
 the added glory and the richer ripeness of humanity's 
 great, broad harvests. 
 
 Fellow teachers, we are not working for ourselves. 
 We are building for Another. The Master Builder will 
 not accept any work that is not done for Him and the 
 
 84 
 
The Teacher's Aim 
 
 blessed eternities. We must be in sympathy with Him 
 and develop His plans. I have been often struck with 
 an anecdote of our late President which illustrates this 
 idea. A company of ministers waited upon him and 
 were as usual very kindly received. After much earnest 
 conversation they asked him if he felt sure that in the 
 course he was pursuing God was working with him. 
 " Oh," said Mr. Lincoln, " that has never caused me a 
 moment's thought. I am not particular about it." The 
 clergymen looked up in amazement. " What ! not par- 
 ticular whether God is working with you ? " exclaimed 
 they. " No," said the martyred President, " it has al- 
 ways seemed to me of much more importance whether 
 I am working with God." 
 
 Let this grand thought come into our minds and 
 the drudgery of our daily toil will take on a beauty 
 that will charm our very soul. Our scholars, too, cheered 
 by our example, thrilled by our teachings, will drink in 
 our inspiration, and so it will come to pass that our bar- 
 ren schoolrooms will be transfigured into something al- 
 together lovely, into the very scene of Jacob's vision — 
 a ladder reaching up to Heaven, bright rejoicing angels 
 going up and down the steps of it, and at the top thereof 
 the voice of God Himself. 
 
 85 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE MAKING OF BOOKS 
 
 HE who could not be satisfied with the semblance 
 of obedience could not be satisfied with the 
 semblance of learning. As a teacher, Dr. Steele's great 
 aim was to lead his pupils, individually, into such 
 methods of thinking and observing as should stimulate 
 and compel personal investigation. In the schoolroom, 
 his magnetic tact and earnestness, combined with his 
 power of adaptation, made every member of his classes 
 an enthusiast. He was now about to prove that the 
 same subtle influence lay at the point of his pen. The 
 need of shorter, more elementary, and more inspiring 
 text-books in Science had pressed him sorely, and before 
 he took up work in Elmira he had already made radical 
 changes in customs of study and class recitation. 
 Through him, in both Mexico and Newark, the scien- 
 tific departments had acquired great impetus, and his 
 individual research, experiment and illustration had 
 shown him something of his talent as a pioneer in 
 methods. Soon, his acquisition of facts, his tried tests, 
 his increase of explanatory powers, his effective points, 
 apt illustrations, clear definitions and luminous demon- 
 strations, became his first reliance for class use, and the 
 prescribed text-books took second place. In Chemistry 
 he found himself able to teach the full course laid down 
 from his own copious notes and rational arrangement of 
 
 86 
 
The Making of Books 
 
 material. In short, he had in his everyday work, and 
 without definite intention toward actual authorship, 
 developed a text-book of his own. 
 
 But this fact, when he discovered it, gave him no ex- 
 pectation of renown or pecuniary profit. His ambition 
 was still confined to the profession he loved and the 
 eager minds in his own schoolroom. Inspired by the 
 enthusiasm he had awakened in his pupils, and by their 
 growing proficiency under his instruction, he resolved to 
 print the material he had prepared, for his own use 
 and at his own expense. He hoped also to find a 
 place for his book in Newark. To Mrs. Steele he wrote 
 April 7, 1867 : 
 
 " I received an invitation day before yesterday to fill 
 Thomas K. Beecher's pulpit during May and June. The call 
 is UNANIMOUS. I put that in small caps, because they so 
 sent it to me. They ask only one sermon a Sunday and tell 
 me to take it quietly as I please. I think I will accept. I 
 hope to get money enough from my sales in Newark and 
 here with my preaching to publish my book." 
 
 Thus he planned to use the money returns from his 
 sermons to enlarge his work as a teacher, and he had 
 made arrangements to have his book printed by the 
 Elmira Advertiser, as the New York house with which he 
 had negotiated somewhat did not ofi"er what he could 
 afford as to terms. 
 
 Same letter : 
 
 " I hold to my resolve to publish here, without making 
 another attempt to be printed in New York. They may 
 want my book for themselves one of these days. Who can 
 tell? 
 
 " I hope for the best from my litde venture. I can get 
 five hundred copies for three hundred and fifty dollars, and 
 
 87 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 get my money back in two years anyway, so I will not lose 
 much except my interest. I am succeeding beyond all my 
 hopes. Many points that seemed difficult for me to harmon- 
 ize I have classified so well that I think I can make all plain 
 to a class. I am glad of this and know it will please you 
 when you see it." 
 
 It was at about this time that, as he has told us in his 
 sketch, a friend, an agent for the school-books of A. S. 
 Barnes & Co. of New York City, called on Professor 
 Steele and to him the latter confided his own scheme of 
 a private publication, showing him some of the manu- 
 script. The agent was much pleased with it and on his 
 return to New York reported it so favorably that Mr. 
 Charles J. Barnes, after some preliminary correspon- 
 dence, took occasion while on a business visit to Elmira, 
 to call on the possible book-maker. 
 
 The captivating qualities of the manuscript won the 
 trained ear of Mr. Barnes at one sitting and by one chap- 
 ter. So it fell out that on his departure he bore with 
 him the pages which were to introduce the author to a 
 new world of action. 
 
 May 20, 1867, came a letter from Mr. A. S. Barnes, 
 the experienced head of the firm — a man of calm and 
 deliberate judgment, and possessed of a business sense 
 that precluded any errors of impulse. 
 
 " We have," he wrote, " examined your Chemistry and are 
 inclined to think it supersedes as interesting reading matter 
 any now in existence on the same subject. It meets a want 
 in common-school education which has heretofore been but 
 poorly supplied. Its language is simple, its illustrations 
 well-chosen, its extent sufficient. By a pleasant statement 
 of dry but important facts you have placed within the com- 
 prehension of a mere child what otherwise he could not 
 touch. We approve the work most heartily." 
 
 88 
 
The Making of Books 
 
 What this letter meant to the young man, so unex- 
 pectedly led to wait editorial decision, only they can 
 know who have experienced the delight of similar 
 approval. Nothing is like it except the joy of greet- 
 ing the brain-child when it returns to the author of its 
 being in the glory of print and other fitting accompani- 
 ments. In all after victories that came to Dr. Steele, it 
 is doubtful whether any pleasure in them exceeded this 
 — the earliest. It was one of the "sweet first times" 
 that belong to everything good in life, and, as such, hap- 
 pily and forever marked the place where larger demands 
 moved him to new efforts, and larger aspirations advanced 
 to greater fulfilments. 
 
 Before 1868, Professor Steele wrote to Mrs. Steele, 
 referring to a prominent Elmira bookseller's visit to 
 New York : 
 
 " Mr. Hall says that Mr. Barnes is delighted with my 
 book, and that, though he had not expected to make money 
 with the Chemistry, only hoping to save himself, he finds it 
 profitable and going all over the country without his effort. 
 He believes it will pay to push it and he is going to do so. 
 He thinks that the Astronomy will also be very popular." 
 
 Already, as the extract shows, the firm had proposed 
 a new book, of which they wrote Dec. 12, 1867 : 
 
 " We are glad you think so favorably of our proposal to 
 write an Astronomy. A book not larger than the Chemistry, 
 and on the same plan of making the science interesting, 
 would best fill the bill." 
 
 The Astronomy was written in 1868, and the Natural 
 Philosophy (afterward, at its revision, entitled Physics), 
 was copyrighted in 1869. The man, then, whose first 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 book was accepted in May 1867, by the autumn of 1869 
 was the author of three copyrighted volumes. And not 
 only were these enthusiastically welcomed by the pub- 
 lishers, but a request was immediately made for another, 
 with yet another in prospect after it. The publishers 
 wrote under date September 30, 1869: 
 
 " As A. Ward said at the tomb of Shakespeare, you are ' a 
 great success.' But for all that you must n't overwork for 
 us — or any other man. We won't crowd you a particle. 
 Make good books and take your time about it. Whatever 
 you make will sell — witness seven thousand five hundred 
 Philosophies gone already, and the hungry public playing 
 Oliver Twist on a large scale." 
 
 Later, in reference to a Geology : 
 
 " If you will make a Geology next — do it. If you can 
 combine with the professor mentioned and so relieve your- 
 self from a part of the work — good ! But the writing must 
 be yours, and the book must be ' Steele's Fourteen Weeks,' 
 though the skies fall ! " 
 
 So it came to pass that 1870 saw copyrighted a Key to 
 the Sciences, and a Geology, and the desk once more 
 cleared for another engagement. And this time, with 
 much hesitation before undertaking his task, he set to 
 work on the greatest success of his life, in so far as 
 meeting an urgent want and obtaining financial results 
 therefrom constitute success. He wrote the famous 
 Barnes' Brief History of the United States. This phe- 
 nomenal book, copyrighted in 1871, will receive fuller 
 attention later. 
 
 And now the demands on his pen made necessary a 
 new choice of professions, or, more properly, one line 
 only of educational work. If he remained in school he 
 
The Making of Books 
 
 must turn away from constant and vehement calls for 
 fresh manuscript, or at least do but meagerly and slowly 
 that which he was pressed to do largely and at once. 
 
 From the time of the issue of the Chemistry he had 
 borne a twofold responsibility, either of which seemed too 
 great for one of delicate constitution, who had passed 
 through the special strain of severe war experience, its 
 following critical illness, and a later unsparing appHcation 
 in the schoolroom at Newark and to other and varied 
 work. But prior to his decision in 1872 he had found 
 it impossible voluntarily to bid farewell to the personal 
 associations of his beloved profession. 
 
 He had, besides, many objections outside his prefer- 
 ences to overcome. The Elmira Board of Education was 
 increasingly loath to part with him, deeply feeling the value 
 of his rapidly extending fame and his peculiar power as 
 a guide to the young. They offered him generous relief 
 from the daily routine of class-work if he would but retain 
 his office and the general over-sight of the Academy. 
 They granted him leave of absence for his first European 
 tour, which became necessary to his health and as an 
 intellectual aid in his work of authorship. They gave 
 as much increase of salary as they could afford and 
 sought earnestly to continue the connection between him 
 and the school. 
 
 On the other hand, the publishing house argued that 
 he had become too important to the whole country to 
 confine himself to a labor for the benefit of a locality, 
 while to continue in two lines of work would inevitably 
 soon incapacitate him for either, by reason of the over- 
 taxation it would entail. 
 
 It was only after prolonged and conscientious delibera- 
 tion that the matter was finally settled. In discussing 
 
 91 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 it by correspondence with his publisher, Dr. Steele 
 wrote : 
 
 " Now, then, I feel like this: It may not be best for me to 
 disconnect myself from school permanently. I am happier 
 doing the good I can there ; I exert a personal influence ; 
 I can gain fresh experiences, try new plans and judge of 
 their practicality and usefulness. I fear I may lose the 
 power of adaptability to children's minds if I stay out 
 of class-work. . . . That great question of usefulness con- 
 stantly comes in with the lesser ones of health and hap- 
 piness. I have thought over it and prayed over it — yet 
 cannot decide." 
 
 It is likely that a plain, practical and fatherly letter 
 from the head of the publishing house, which came while 
 an alarming physical collapse threatened him, was the 
 final and controlling influence which decided Dr. Steele 
 to devote himself entirely to authorship. 
 
 This letter, which impartially stated the pros and cons 
 of the situation, urged the hesitating teacher to decide 
 not for himself, but as he would advise decision in a 
 friend similarly placed. The impersonal view seems 
 to have successfully reinforced other arguments, and 
 settled a course which would lessen the variety of his 
 tasks, and leave him to the uninterrupted pursuit of 
 book-making. He withdrew from the Academy in 
 1872. 
 
 The instant approval of the public, won by the Chem- 
 istry, grew with each new volume, and never failed to 
 greet substantially every fresh undertaking. Witness 
 such messages as these, which constantly brought encour- 
 agement from the publishers : 
 
 Jan. 14, 1S71 : "They have out our first fifteen hundred 
 Geologies. All the books are selling splendidly." 
 
 92 
 
The Making of Books 
 
 Near the same date : " Boston has adopted Steele's Philos- 
 ophy and Geology. Hip ! Hip ! ! " 
 
 Later in the same year : 
 
 " I have just returned from my four thousand mile trip 
 and saw ' Steele's Fourteen Weeks ' in gorgeous array in 
 many booksellers' shops. Also heard some noise about a 
 Zoology." 
 
 Their manager wrote from Chicago : 
 
 *' The Geology is a jewel. I often think how lucky it is 
 iox yon that I did not offer you a thousand or fifteen hun- 
 dred dollars for half copyright in your scientific series, at the 
 time 1 was negotiating with our folks to publish your Chemis- 
 try. All you have to do now, Professor, is to finish your 
 Physiology and History, write a Science of Common Things 
 and call it an Epitome of Science — then take your faithful 
 and darling wife and travel in Europe." 
 
 Little could any one foresee how far short of all he had 
 to do was this pleasant programme, nor what tremendous 
 toil was before him through the very victories which it was 
 expected would bring him leisure. 
 
 93 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE HISTORIES 
 
 IT is almost literal truth to say that Dr. Steele awoke 
 to find himself an historian. Nor did he wake with- 
 out calling. For, of himself, his eyes were not opened 
 to see his ability as a story-teller who could set down 
 the events of national growth with a skill that would 
 win universal attention. 
 
 It was at the proposal of his publishers that he was 
 induced to begin a work which he was singularly reluc- 
 tant to undertake. He was fond of American history, 
 and for his own pleasure had taught it both in Newark 
 and Elmira, where, by his sparkling anecdote and patri- 
 otic fervor he had so increased the size of his classes 
 that they outgrew the schoolroom and had to be divided 
 into two sections. His native originality had shown itself 
 in historical as well as in scientific methods, but the 
 sciences were always his fiivorites, and he had never 
 thought of writing an historical text-book. 
 
 But, in 1870, on the death of Mrs. Emma Hart 
 Willard, her publishers, in a friendly letter, spoke 
 of the need of something in a United States history, 
 which would be fresh and fascinating in treatment, 
 and declared, " We think you could give us just the 
 book." 
 
 To this proposal. Dr. Steele did not at once accede. 
 He had been peculiarly successful in his scientific work, 
 
 94 
 
The Histories 
 
 but this was a new field in authorship, and would involve 
 added labor — for he well knew that the old and tried 
 path in science would allure him still. All his objections, 
 however, were humorously met and parried by the pub- 
 lishers, who at this point made the first suggestion as 
 to retirement from the Elmira Academy. As already 
 related, this suggestion was slowly acted upon, though 
 accompanied by a proposition to swell the text-book 
 series to sixteen volumes, and a financial offer the magni- 
 tude of which Dr. Steele could not have imagined for 
 himself two years before. 
 
 "This is just to give you confidence," wrote his pub- 
 lisher friend, " and we do not consider the act uncom- 
 monly liberal, for the book will make it — and more. 
 Don't thank us ! If you accept — which you tniist, for 
 we won't take * no ' — we will draw up a little agreement 
 and victory is ours." 
 
 This was written in August, 1S70, and by September 
 fourteen an arrangement was made with the Academy, 
 whereby he was enabled to devote more time to his books, 
 and to begin his new venture. The outcome was hailed 
 with joy by the publishers, which they thus voiced : 
 
 "The die is cast! The Rubicon is crossed! History is 
 the book and expedition is the word. Make us a perfectly 
 stunning book, now, Professor, in your own charming narra- 
 tive and never fear but we shall like your style. Be just 
 yourself — natural — what you are in your other books." 
 
 As one reads the brisk correspondence between the 
 two, who had now grown to be fast friends, it is hard to 
 know which to admire most — the sagacious and inspir- 
 ing confidence of the publisher or the responsive alacrity 
 of the author. And it is harder to know which looked 
 
 95 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 to the end with more eagerness. But it is plain that the 
 full assurance of success was the prescience of him who 
 cheered the heavy toil of the other by buoyant words of 
 hearty faith. 
 
 Dr, Steele was unwilling to be known as author of the 
 new book. He feared schoolmen might look askance at 
 history from the pen of a scientist. Or, should the rep- 
 utation of the science books float his history, and the 
 latter lack staying powers, he feared the sciences might 
 suffer from the association. 
 
 Entertaining devices of pseudonym were discussed, 
 therefore, among others a combination of initials and 
 names made up from the cognomens of Dr. Steele and 
 General Barnes. This was contrived by the latter, who 
 declared it would please him immensely : " I am a sort 
 of papa to this venture, anyway, and will never disown 
 the child. Besides, it is going to be yonx great book." 
 
 It was at last decided that it should be published 
 simply as " Barnes' Brief History of the United States," 
 a decision which gave rise to the foUowhig paragraph 
 in a letter to Dr. Steele from General Barnes, October, 
 1885: 
 
 " I begin to despair of pleasing the world at large and 
 every individual in it with anydiing we can do. This morn- 
 ing comes a crank who praises the ' Brief U. S.' in every 
 respect except as to the matter of title, and says he will 
 never allow it in his school while we print ' Barnes' ' with an 
 apostrophe after the ' s.' Ifancy that ! " 
 
 While the work of the history manuscript went bravely 
 on, scores of letters passed between New York and El- 
 mira, those signed "A. C. B." showing intense expec- 
 tation. 
 
 96 
 
The Histories 
 
 Oct. 1870: "Let us have three hundred pages, as inter- 
 esting as you know how, and we will sell one hundred thou- 
 sand per annum for you." This promise was more than 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Nov. 15, 1870: " Your letter last received makes me feel 
 real good — ■ as the girls say. That idea of topical para- 
 graphs is as smart as they make 'em. I must say you are 
 an unadulterated genius. Come down to the city as soon as 
 you are ready and let us talk it over — a big palaver." 
 
 The history grew in beauty of plan and execution. In 
 January, 187 1, the author wrote Mrs. Steele: 
 
 " I have a new idea. It is to precede each epoch by a 
 colored, two-page map containing all the places mentioned 
 in the epoch, and follow this — before the text begins — with 
 a page of questions marked ' Geography of the Epoch,' thus 
 making the pupil acquainted with the geography of all the 
 places mentioned. How do you like the plan ? " 
 
 This idea was carried out, and when, later, he wrote 
 to the publishers his satisfaction with the specimen 
 map pages sent him, General Barnes wrote thus : 
 
 "Yes, the maps are good — but not too good for such 
 text. It grows on me every time I read it. If here are not 
 the elements of success I have had enough of the book 
 business." 
 
 Other letters from the publishing friend contained such 
 congratulatory sentences as these : 
 
 June, 1871 : " Every one who has seen the book praises it 
 without reserve. It will be the greatest yet — mark me / " 
 
 July 10, '71: "First blood for the 'Brief.' Texas has 
 adopted it for all her common schools — exclusive — also the 
 Sciences complete ! " 
 
 Sept. 11:" Seventy-five hundred histories printed, and 
 the demand so great that the presses are again set going for 
 
 97 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Dec. i: "It won't discourage you — will it? — to learn 
 that twenty thousand histories are almost gone in six 
 months ? " 
 
 Dec. 29 : " The Science sales this month have increased 
 thirty per cent over 1870 and History foots up seventeen 
 hundred volumes. Try to bear up." 
 
 Aug., 1872: "You are already beyond the need of hard 
 work for the rest of your life." This at the age of thirty-six, 
 after six years of authorship. 
 
 But unrelenting hard work still beckoned him. Zo- 
 ology followed in 1872, then history, and history, and 
 always more history. The " History of France " and 
 " Popular History of the United States " were copyrighted 
 in 1875. To the latter was added the " New Administra- 
 tion" in 1878. In 1879, came "Excelsior Studies in 
 United States History " and first revision of the " Brief," 
 to which the " New Administration " was added in 18S0. 
 In 1881, " History of Ancient Peoples " was copyrighted, 
 and "Mediaeval and Modern Peoples " in 1883. 
 
 Meantime, Dr. Steele tried to rest. As soon as the 
 "Brief" was over, in 187 1, he left for Saratoga — his 
 favorite outing place in summer. But the voice of 
 appeal reached him here. 
 
 " I hate awfully," wrote General Barnes, July 6, " to dis- 
 turb your oiiiim diggin'-iaters, at Temple Grove House, 
 with any other tables than those on which you take your 
 daily rations, but I must consult you about these tables of 
 statistics." 
 
 In July, 1883, again seeking rest at the same place, 
 Dr. Steele wrote his wife : 
 
 " I am greatly enjoying everything. The air is so quiet, 
 pure, and sweet, yet so full of music and song. It is delight 
 
The Histories 
 
 to sit at my open window and listen and feel it all. If you 
 were only here ! . . . I am trying to finish this press of busi- 
 ness, for teachers are calling loudly for the double-barrelled 
 history." 
 
 This was the " General History," a union in one vol- 
 ume of the Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Peoples. 
 
 In 1883 came the "History of Greece," with select 
 readings (added by an outsider) ; in 1885 the "History 
 of Rome," with select readings by Mrs. Steele; and the 
 second revision of the "United States History." Sand- 
 wiched between all this historical work were the con- 
 tinued volumes of Sciences. 
 
 Not until after Dr. Steele's death was his name put 
 upon the title-pages of any of the histories, though the 
 advisability often came up and his friends urged it. But 
 he stoutly refused his own name unless Mrs. Steele's was 
 coupled with it, a condition opposed by the publishing 
 house lest such tardy announcement of joint authorship 
 might be seized by critics to Dr. Steele's disadvantage, 
 his direct connection with the " Barnes' Histories " having 
 already become an open secret. Owing to such difficul- 
 ties, Dr. Steele made no formal acknowledgment of his 
 historical work further than signing the preface of the 
 1885 edition of the United States History with his ini- 
 tials, and the insertion of Mrs. Steele's name in the pre- 
 face to the " General History." 
 
 From the first of the book work, as Dr. Steele has 
 so touchingly recorded in his autobiography, Mrs. Steele 
 was the amanuensis, searcher of references, and ready 
 critic, aiding her husband materially in the Science series. 
 And after history was added to his labor she not only 
 remained his assistant as before, but became the success- 
 ful originator of text. 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 She had a particular ability in ancient and mediaeval 
 history, her fondness for which had been in childhood 
 judiciously fostered by her father, from whom it was 
 inherited. " I have often," said Mrs. Steele to a friend, 
 " blessed the fatherly wisdom that gave me a happy 
 foundation on which to build an education." 
 
 As early as 1870, allusions began to appear in letters 
 from the publishing house to Dr. Steele, recognizing 
 the efficiency of his wife's assistance. A letter of that 
 year from General Barnes contains this comment : 
 
 " I am glad to know that Mrs. Steele is at the good work. 
 That will make it S. T. i87o X, — sure ! " 
 
 Feb. 27, 1871 : " I missed Mrs. Steele's familiar hand- 
 writing. My regards to her, please, and tell her I consider 
 her a very important partner in our joint authorship." 
 
 March 10, 1886: " A good Primer of Health is the first 
 necessity. This may bother more than you think, for it 
 will require writing with a choice of words, to the limitations 
 of which you are entirely unaccustomed. I really think you 
 will find Mrs. Steele better adapted to it than yourself." 
 
 In 1879 Mrs. Steele went to Watertown to write, and 
 the daily letters of her husband contain constant allusion 
 to her work : 
 
 November 25 : " Your manuscript is grand. I congratu- 
 late you on being done with Greece, as I suppose you are 
 ere this, and that you have descended on Rome. Your plan 
 is so straightforward and the material so well in hand that 
 I expect you will advance rapidly and easily." 
 
 November 26 : " Yours with proof came last night. 
 
 Miss is loud in her praise of this work. She says she 
 
 reads ahead and forgets to copy — quite a novelty for her. 
 You know she generally copies mechanically, with little or 
 no idea of the import of what she is transcribing." 
 
 November 30 : " Do not condense so as to leave out the 
 100 
 
The Histories 
 
 interesting and concrete; abstractions and theories may go 
 to the dogs by preference. 1 am glad you are getting on 
 so famously. Literature is the big job, of course, though 
 Monuments and Arts will be longest, I think. It will be 
 heavy, but I am sure you will get through the amount 
 planned for the coming week." 
 
 December 4 : " The last instalment is ' just splendid ! ' 
 Don't fret about the quality of your work. It is in some 
 respects the best you have done, and has a spontaneity 
 about it that is exhilarating." 
 
 In April 1873 Dr. and Mrs. Steele made their second 
 visit to Europe, this time for study in preparation for 
 historical work, spending much time in England, Ger- 
 many, and France, with histories of those countries in 
 view. General Barnes and family were also abroad. 
 From London Dr. Steele wrote General Barnes, August 
 4, 1873: 
 
 " I spend a larger part of the days in the Museum read- 
 ing room. I am now getting the 'hang of things.' I have 
 found an old friend here of four years' experience in the 
 Museum on historical subjects. He says I have already 
 accumulated as much material as he had at the end of his 
 first year. 
 
 " I have decided to go over the four histories, French, 
 German, English, and General, mapping out the whole 
 field by writing a brief outline, and sorting the data for each. 
 This will give definiteness to the entire series and prevent 
 repetitions and misplacements. Besides, the careful study 
 and the comparisons thus made will give me a view of the 
 subjects from every possible standpoint and insure perfect 
 accuracy. This work may save me from statements or 
 celoring which I might hereafter regret, and I can later take 
 up any one of the series and work it out with confidence. 
 
 " I am exceedingly anxious to bring out an English 
 history very soon. My wife is thoroughly informed and all 
 
 lOI 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 aflame on the topic — indeed wants to take it herself. 
 English history is more vivid to me than I ever supposed 
 it could be. The book must come ere long." 
 
 There was much talk all summer about a meeting of 
 the friends — author and publisher — and their families, 
 at some place on the continent, the time postponed by 
 Dr. and Mrs. Steele, on account of their work, until 
 September i, on which date Dr. Steele wrote: 
 
 " We have concluded to go across the Channel to-morrow, 
 if the weather is pleasant, and wait at Paris your arrival 
 from Copenhagen. I shall abandon myself to French his- 
 tory while on the spot where such stirring events transpired. 
 An immense amount of reading and study is still requisite 
 to fit me for this work, and I shall devote the entire year to 
 searching for allied facts in European history and in culti- 
 vating a historical way of thinking." 
 
 The two families met at Paris and lived for a time at 
 a pension, " No. 50 Rue Jacob," on the left bank of 
 the Seine, — "a neat, comfortable place," wrote Dr. 
 Steele, " not aristocratic but quite propre and with an 
 agreeable landlord, who has enjoyed an extensive 
 patronage from Americans — many of them scholarly 
 people." This meeting and tarrying together of the 
 two families determined the fact that neither the Eng- 
 lish nor German histories were ever finished. At Paris 
 the French history was planned by Dr. and Mrs. Steele, 
 who afterward pushed it to completion. The Ger- 
 man history was also begun, but laid aside for other 
 pressing work, at the end of a hundred pages or so of 
 manuscript. The English history, for which both were 
 so richly prepared and which they eagerly hoped to write, 
 was well under way at the time of Dr. Steele's death. 
 
The Histories 
 
 This event so prostrated Mrs. Steele that she was utterly 
 unfitted for literary activity for several years. She then 
 found herself absorbed in revisions and in carrying out 
 the philanthropic plans of her husband, and English 
 history was finally abandoned. 
 
 It will be seen that Dr. Steele by no means depended 
 solely on his fluent, captivating style, but that he spent 
 years of study and travel in pursuit of proper equipment. 
 Neither was he sparing of expense. Before the tour 
 abroad in 1873 he wrote: 
 
 " German history will cost me about two thousand dollars 
 more, written in Germany, still I wish to make the best 
 book I can." 
 
 He made the best books he could. The reward for 
 their high quality was perhaps the largest response a 
 nation of schools ever made to the work of one 
 man. October 12, 1883, the same year in which it was 
 copyrighted, the publishers wrote of the " History of 
 Greece " : 
 
 "The sale of that book is something remarkable — un- 
 precedented in our experience. One hundred thousand 
 copies are gone already ; five thousand are on the press ; 
 orders to-day, one thousand. To-day and to-morrow we 
 shall be without books." 
 
 April 20, 1886, Dr. Steele was advised that more than 
 one hundred and fifty thousand copies of the " Brief 
 United States " had been sold that year, and that fifty 
 thousand more would be sold by September. From 
 October 1885 to October 1886 two hundred thousand 
 copies were distributed. 
 
 After the formation of the American Book Company, 
 103 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 in 1S90, the question of placing Dr. Steele's name on 
 the title-pages of the histories was again discussed. In 
 1892 Mrs. Steele revised the " General History," a book 
 in which the sections on Civilization, which form a large 
 part of the text, are entirely her own, the political his- 
 tory and general plan of the work being Dr. Steele's. 
 The name of Mrs. Steele, which had been mentioned in 
 the prefoce when this book first appeared, was now com- 
 bined with her husband's in their proper place, and soon 
 afterward the two names appeared on the title-pages of 
 the other histories. 
 
 104 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE CRITICS 
 
 THERE is preserved an old scrap-book made by 
 Dr. Steele which is a striking illustration of the 
 impartiality with which he considered approval and dis- 
 approval. Here, alongside the high encomiums of edu- 
 cators and reviewers, are found the sharpest antagonistic 
 comments. He seems to have welcomed every adverse 
 opinion if it pointed to the possibihty of greater 
 accuracy. It was only the mean aspersion, animated by 
 inconsistency and unfair opposition, that roused his 
 combativeness. 
 
 He was sensitive to both praise and blame — but not 
 unduly. His elation was that of one who likes both to 
 speak and to hear a whole-souled, appreciative word ; 
 his annoyance that of the thorough-going workman who 
 aims to bring his production above the charge of un- 
 worthiness and fallacy. He never defended himself 
 from criticism until he had examined its cause suffi- 
 ciently to know whether or not it was well founded. 
 And he was active in detecting his own mistakes. 
 
 From New York, September 6, 1868, he wrote Mrs. 
 Steele : 
 
 " I find my books selling so well that I have ventured 
 to name a series of corrections which have occurred to 
 me. ... I forwarded you an astronomy yesterday. I 
 want you to read \\.for mistakes and let me know if you find 
 any. I want to eliminate all errors at once." 
 105 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 His resolution to investigate the basis of every ad- 
 verse comment made him a vast deal of labor. Fair 
 himself to competitors, he did not at first suspect that 
 many censuring words might arise from envy. His 
 publishers, who better knew how to estimate such 
 attacks, wrote April 26, 1870 : " Don't worry over those 
 people who endeavor to stem the overwhelming tide 
 that has risen in your favor. It will only advertise you." 
 This indeed proved to be the case. 
 
 Later, on Dr. Steele's proposing to place the books, 
 by further revision, beyond the reach of fault-finders, 
 his philosophical friend wrote : 
 
 " You largely overestimate the importance of the attacks 
 on your books. Pray do not permit these tokens and at- 
 tendants of success to disturb your equanimity for a moment. 
 Any slight defects can well wait time. Only detractors can 
 find fault at any rate. I am sure there has been liberal 
 pruning and splicing. Don't fancy that, at the best, any 
 text-book can be received by the world exactly as if it were, 
 like Caesar's wife, sans reproche. Perhaps you have heard 
 of this comparison before ! " 
 
 The peculiarity of a certain class of criticism often 
 furnished both author and publisher much amusement. 
 
 " The principal of Academy," writes Dr. Steele, 
 
 " has written me a letter criticising my ' Astronomy ' 
 severely. Yet he says it is the pleasantest book he has 
 ever read and that he will probably adopt it." 
 
 "Our friend in Texas," wrote Mr. Barnes, June 1882, 
 "who took occasion to speak so slightingly of your Sciences, 
 when called upon to give reasons for such sweeping charges 
 gracefully apologized, saying it was a mistake ever to have 
 made them." 
 
 106 
 
The Critics 
 
 One author who had harshly discriminated against 
 the Steele Sciences, offered in 1869, tempted perhaps 
 by the rumor of royalties, to combine with Dr. Steele 
 in a new book. Mr. Alfred Barnes forwarded this whole- 
 some counsel : 
 
 " We would advise you not to think of such a thing as 
 
 collaborating with . Such a proposition from him is a 
 
 curious commentary on his criticism upon your books. 
 You seem to be extensively in the coals-of-fire business." 
 
 The replies of Dr. Steele to his censors were never 
 hasty or ill-advised, but they were often highly enter- 
 taining as clever retorts. Neither had he any petty 
 satisfaction in weak points displayed by rivals. Of one 
 who had dealt less good-naturedly with him, he wrote : 
 
 " I find a number of mistakes in the new science book of 
 . One especially pleases me. It is an entire state- 
 ment, copied verbatim from the first edition of my book 
 before the corrections made long ago. Evidently this writer 
 used an early edition of Steele, and it is a rich joke on him." 
 
 Many labored articles, as pedantic as the substitutes 
 their writers would have made, were penned for the 
 purpose of showing a misguided public how inadequate 
 were the books it was purchasing. Yet the proud honor 
 of election to a fellowship in the Geological Society of 
 London, England, was in recognition of the very ex- 
 cellence of presentation not understood by his oppo- 
 nents, who always pointed out the fact that he had 
 failed to produce a certain sort of book — the precise 
 sort he had diligently sought to supplant, as deadly to 
 the prosperity of fundamental scientific study. 
 
 As he once said : " There is a vast difference between 
 ' Fourteen Weeks in Science ' and ' Science in Fourteen 
 107 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Weeks.' " However, there were many who could never 
 comprehend that his eager thought was to give to those 
 who had but fourteen weeks a year in school, a profit- 
 able course for limited study, and to those who had 
 more time, a good foundation for future progress. He 
 once mildly assured a contemptuous assailant, that the 
 scientific books did not represent all he knew, but only 
 all he had thought advisable to set before the class of 
 students for whom they were prepared. 
 
 *' Specialists," said the New England Educational Jour- 
 nal, " may find fault with his scientific works and say they 
 are too superficial, but the works were not written for them 
 — they were prepared for the untrained pupil, who has never 
 yet learned that there are beauty, wisdom, and fascination in 
 science. . . . Many a one now working as a specialist in 
 some branch of science had his attention first drawn and his 
 enthusiasm aroused by Dr. Steele." 
 
 The last assertion is remarkably verified by extracts 
 from two letters voluntarily sent to Mrs. Steele, the first 
 in 1886, the other some years later. The former was 
 from Marion, Alabama : 
 
 " I became acquainted with Dr. Steele's books as a boy, 
 struggling to obtain an education, especially its elements, by 
 personal effort, and with no aid except a few books, among 
 which were Dr. Steele's ' Astronomy ' and ' Natural Philoso- 
 phy.' I recall them now as the most attractive companions 
 I had in those gloomy days, brightened now and then only 
 by the fires of ambition. Those books led me on by hand- 
 ling hard topics in an easy, captivating manner, and they 
 did the work for me. 
 
 " To hundreds of young men the death of Dr. Steele is 
 a personal loss. The nation has greater cause to mourn 
 for him than for a statesman." 
 108 
 
The Critics 
 
 The writer of the other letter is a man of professional 
 and scientific repute in Georgia : 
 
 "About thirteen years since," he said, "I was sixteen, 
 preparing for college with no definite idea of what I would 
 do when I became a man. 1 was groping about in the dark 
 for some object or profession to follow as a life-work. My 
 father, a Yale graduate, was a sugar planter and wanted me 
 to take the plantation. But for this I had no taste and was 
 completely at sea until I began the study of Fourteen 
 Weeks in Chemistry. After completing that, my mind was 
 made up. The charming style of the book had fascinated 
 me with science and I determined to study it further. This 
 I did, taking my degree at the Johns Hopkins University. 
 
 " In scientific thought and training Dr. Steele was the 
 author of my faith. It was he who led the aimless boy into 
 the glorious realm of science, through paths that increased 
 his love for nature's God." 
 
 An old teacher thus summed up the merits of the 
 Steele Sciences : " They do interest children and they 
 do produce results ; and we take it that covers the ground 
 pretty well." 
 
 As to their literary value, thousands of encomiums 
 have been written. Hyland Kirke said that many pas- 
 sages were "gems of the first water." Two are here 
 given as illustrations of his style. The first is taken from 
 the " Physics " : 
 
 " Actual energy is also styled dynamic or kinetic energy, 
 and potential is termed static energy. In mechanics, kinetic 
 energy is called vis viva (=iw7/^), or striking force. Wind 
 a watch, and by a few moments of labor you condense in 
 the spring a potential energy, which is doled out for twenty- 
 four hours in the dynamic energy of the wheels and hands. 
 Draw a violin bow, and the potential energy of the arm is 
 stored up in the stretched cord. Lift a pendulum, and you 
 109 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 thereby give the weight potential energy ; let it fall, and 
 the potential changes gradually to dynamic. . . . Potential 
 energy is one that is concealed, lying in wait and ready to 
 burst forth on the instant. It is a loaded gun prepared for 
 the arm of the marksman. It is a river trembling on the 
 brink of a precipice, about to take the fearful leap. It is a 
 weight wound up and held against the tug of gravity. It is 
 the engine on the track with the steam hissing from every 
 crevice. It is the drop of water with a thunderbolt hidden 
 within its crystal walls. On the contrary, dynamic energy 
 is in full view, in actual operation. The bullet is speeding 
 to the mark ; the river is tumbling ; the weight is falling ; 
 the engine is flying over the rails ; and the bolt is flashing 
 across the sky. It is heat radiating from our fires; elec- 
 tricity flashing our messages over the continent ; and gravity 
 drawing bodies headlong to the earth." 
 
 The second is from the " Barnes' Brief History of the 
 United States " : 
 
 " Though the nation was still agitated by political strife 
 — the ground-swell, as it were, of the recent terrible storm, 
 the country was rapidly taking on the appearance and 
 ways of peace. The South was slowly adjusting herself to 
 the novel conditions of free labor. The soldiers retained 
 somewhat their martial air ; but ' blue-coats ' and ' gray- 
 coats ' were everywhere to be seen engaged in quiet avo- 
 cations. The ravages of war were fast disappearing. 
 Nature had already sown grass and quick-growing plants on 
 the battle-fields where contending armies had struggled. 
 
 ' There were domes of white blossoms where swelled the white tent ; 
 There were plows in the track where the war wagons went ; 
 There were songs where they lifted up Rachel's lament.' — B. F. Taylor. 
 
 Strangely symbolical of the new era of growth which had 
 dawned on the nation, a wanderer over the cannon-ploughed 
 slope of Cemetery Ridge found a broken drum, in which a 
 swarm of bees were building their comb and storing honey 
 no 
 
The Critics 
 
 gathered from the flowers growing on that soil so rich 
 with Union and Confederate blood." 
 
 The "wanderer" was Dr. Steele himself. 
 
 " I could wish," wrote a prominent educator in 1885, 
 " that you might go through every department of human 
 knowledge, setting in order all the things to be studied. 
 You have, however, earned a rest from toil, and will live to 
 see your work carried on by other hands after your own 
 plan." 
 
 He did not live to see it, but many who read the 
 educational signs of the times know well that great 
 numbers of text-book makers have forsaken the need- 
 less weariness of old ways, because he dared to go 
 before and make a better one. And many a good 
 science book of the grade of his own has been success- 
 ful, because it has exhibited that fine perception of 
 needs, that happy presentation of facts, first conspicu- 
 ous in the Steele books and long peculiar to them. 
 
 It is interesting to know that the only assault which 
 promised any danger to his popularity, attained no 
 magnitude until 1886, and after the death of Dr. Steele. 
 It was made on the "United States History." 
 
 This book had, from year to year, since its issue in 
 1872, enjoyed a constantly wider favor, and the pub- 
 lishers concluded that the increasing demand warranted 
 a new dress. It was accordingly reset in new type with 
 a wealth of pictorial illustration, and became, probably, 
 the most artistic school book that had ever appeared in 
 America. Orders poured in from every state in the 
 Union, swelling the sales to tremendous proportions. 
 
 Suddenly anonymous circulars, entitled, " Shall our 
 Boys and Girls be taught that Rebellion is Honor- 
 III 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 able ? " were sent broadcast, denouncing the history as 
 a " Rebel book." These circulars appeared everywhere, 
 and were systematically reviewed in the newspapers, 
 attracting great attention. The charges were finally 
 pushed so far that the Grand Army Posts began to 
 make critical examinations of the work. In two towns, 
 — Newark, New Jersey, and Saratoga, New York, — 
 resolutions were passed by the Posts, disapproving the 
 cordiality with which Dr. Steele had acknowledged the 
 bravery of the Southern soldiers and leaders, and coun- 
 selling their members not to patronize schools in which 
 it was taught. 
 
 Much publicity was given to these resolutions by 
 those who hoped to benefit from any antagonisms they 
 might engender. Misled Northern veterans, brought 
 to believe there was partiality, rather than even-handed 
 justice, intended toward the soldiers of the South, wrote 
 some hot opinions with the headlong abandon of their 
 old, fighting spirit. At last, the opposition to the book 
 took on serious proportions. 
 
 However, there was safety for the history in the fact 
 that men of breadth and balance are, after all, the men 
 who make final decisions. And many such were among 
 those who still survived the Civil War. Soon from this 
 class arose protests against the rash accusations of the 
 unthinking — led by the designing — and everywhere 
 solid and influential men began to defend the memory 
 of the maligned author. 
 
 The championship of his publishers also did much 
 to counteract the effect of unjust aspersions. Their 
 alacrity had in it a fire of energy born of personal 
 love for Dr. Steele and a perfect knowledge of his 
 equitable spirit. For this reason it had an efficacy 
 
 112 
 
The Critics 
 
 which business policy alone could never possess. And 
 added to the refutations of brother-soldier, friend and 
 publisher was the impassioned resolve of Mrs, Steele 
 that nothing should prevail against the truth. 
 
 It would be unprofitable to give the details of this 
 contest, long since settled by righteous judgment. But 
 it was fought out — it did not die out. Every par- 
 ticular statement called in question was proven to be 
 justified by quotations from Abraham Lincoln, General 
 Grant, Horace Greeley, James G. Blaine, and other 
 equally unassailable authorities. It was shown, too, that 
 other reliable historians had never been challenged for 
 certain identical narrations which were criticised in Dr. 
 Steele. That these statements did not reflect on national 
 honor everybody now knows. 
 
 A reward was offered for the identification of the 
 author of these distributed circulars, but beyond a moral 
 certainty there was no detection. 
 
 One of the warmest protestations of confidence in 
 Dr. Steele's true patriotism was dated at Elmira, Oc- 
 tober 6, 1886, and signed by a number of his towns- 
 people, members of the Grand Army. It was as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " Understanding that, for purposes best known to them- 
 selves, certain parties are representing that the author of 
 ' The Barnes Brief History ' was not a loyal patriot and that 
 his book was written to pander to Southern sentiment, we, 
 his fellow-townsmen and members of the Grand Army of 
 the Republic, take pleasure in testifying to his staunch and 
 unswerving patriotism and his undoubted devotion to the 
 Union. As a volunteer soldier he fought bravely and won 
 the honorable scars of battle ; as a citizen he has been ever 
 esteemed as an ardent lover of our united land, and a con- 
 scientious worker for its best interests. We should feel no 
 8 113 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 hesitation in putting into the hands of our children any book 
 of which he was the author." 
 
 This was signed by Hon. Seymour Dexter, then judge 
 of Chemung County ; Thomas K. Beecher, D. D., 
 Elmira's most famous clergyman, the brother of Henry 
 Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe ; by United 
 States Commissioner John T. Davidson, Judge Gabriel 
 L. Smith, General E. O. Beers, and many equally reliable 
 and distinguished veterans. 
 
 All over the country were found clear-headed Grand 
 Army men who denounced the injustice of the charge, 
 and the Grand Army's own organ, " The National 
 Tribune," had early indorsed the book. 
 
 D. R. Lowell, Post Chaplain in Chief, wrote from 
 Fort Riley, Kansas : 
 
 " I have studied the history with the greatest care and 
 deepest interest because some have criticised it as lack- 
 ing loyalty to the North. It is certainly not a spread-eagle 
 oration. That is one reason why it commends itself to me. 
 History is not statements of partisan questions or debated 
 incidents, but is simple, plain, unpartisan statements of 
 facts. I have only admiration for Dr. Steele's calm, fair 
 recital — especially of the story of the Civil War. No 
 student can read this book without having his pride in his 
 flag and country largely increased." 
 
 A. S. Weissert, Commander-in-chief of the Grand 
 Army, declared : "The book is the best of the kind in use 
 in the schools of the country. The terse, vigorous Eng- 
 lish in which the salient facts of our Nation are told, is 
 unequalled." 
 
 It seems very strange that this book should also have 
 been objected to in the South. Rev. J. William Jones, 
 secretary of the Southern Historical Society, wrote an 
 114 
 
The Critics 
 
 article upon it for the " Virginia Educational Journal," 
 charging it with most unfair discrimination against the 
 South. Sectional sensitiveness was at that time ex- 
 tremely alert. One Union veteran who sternly criticised 
 the book, afterward explained that his reasons for it 
 were, that he was of the Army of the Potomac, and in- 
 ferred, from the praise of certain generals, that the author 
 of "Barnes' Brief United States" must have belonged 
 to the Army of the West. Thus was the conscientious 
 and impartial historian criticised and blamed by the 
 captious on all sides. 
 
 But generally, east, west, north, and south, the sincere 
 and just temper of his work was acknowledged. Hon. 
 A. M. Keiley, city attorney, ex-mayor, and president 
 of the School Board of Richmond, Va., wrote a full, 
 excellent and fair review of the book, in which he ex- 
 pressed a strong approval of it, and closed by saying : 
 
 " Most important, the story is' fully and truthfully told. 
 I do not mean that every fact is narrated as I would have 
 narrated it, or that every figure will bear the test of final 
 scrutiny from authoritative standards ; but I do mean to 
 say that the book seems to me to be imbued by a candid, 
 honest purpose to tell the truth in fact and form. 
 
 " The events of the War of Secession form, of course, the 
 ground of differences of opinion, and men on both sides will 
 long dispute — perhaps forever — ^as to details. Even on 
 the same side these differences exist. There will neces- 
 sarily be honest differences of opinion among actors in our 
 great struggle as to details of the campaigns and battles of 
 the War. If so, how much more likely among writers of 
 opposite parties in that struggle. Many volumes of official 
 reports on both sides have been published since the War, 
 and the official facts fail of harmony as signally as the 
 unofficial. What, however, we have a right to expect is 
 
 115 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 a manifest effort to be fair, not only in the display of inde- 
 pendent facts, but in the judgment of motive, in the degree 
 of prominence to the several facts, in portrayal of character, 
 in the story of final results; and if these are effected, the 
 details of the campaigns and battles, unless grossly mis- 
 stated, may, without damage to truth, be allowed a margin. 
 "Therefore I say, that while this story is not told as I 
 should have told it in every respect, I believe I could not 
 have told it more fairly, and I know that others have not 
 told it as fairly. Courage, skill, sincerity, devotion, win the 
 author's recognition and praise wherever displayed ; and 
 the narrative generally exhibits the temper of the judge, 
 rarely, if ever, of the advocate. 1 do not think this can 
 be affirmed of all of its competitors; and of none do I think 
 it can be more fully affirmed." 
 
 The final endorsement of educators was a national one. 
 The whole country, which had so approved the Sciences, 
 united in preference for the " History," no matter 
 what other competitor appeared. Not a state in the 
 union but has used it. The unanimity of choice proved 
 a prevailing spirit, like that expressed by the publishing 
 house in the closing words of its printed defence of Dr. 
 Steele : 
 
 " We think we have now shown that our history seeks to 
 be impartial in its treatment of the Civil War ; that it recog- 
 nizes valor and ability wherever shown, and never shrinks 
 from stating important facts, whether they make for or 
 against either the North or the South. It seems to us that 
 this is the true spirit for a school history. Our children 
 should not, in our opinion, be taught to cherish any sectional 
 feeling, or to perpetuate any of the differences which have 
 unhappily divided the fathers. Why can we not all, as 
 Americans, take pride in American skill and bravery, 
 whether shown by Northern or Southern soldiers .-* Let the 
 youth of our land come together on the broad ground of 
 ii6 
 
The Critics 
 
 the Union, and, while studying its history, imbibe a national 
 patriotism, learn to avoid the errors of the past, to cultivate 
 its virtues, revere its heroes, and unitedly, North and South, 
 East and West, build up its magnificent future." 
 
 It was fourteen years after its first appearance that 
 the history was called to pass through the ordeal of 
 malignant attack. In the twenty-seventh year of its 
 still robust life, the words of James Russell Lowell may 
 well be quoted : 
 
 " What a sense of security in an old book which time has 
 criticised for us ! " 
 
 117 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE TRAVELLER 
 
 SENTENCES here and there, in the early letters of 
 Dr. Steele and his young wife, show how both 
 enjoyed the modest outings they were able to get in 
 vacation times, and how they talked of more ambitious 
 possibilities in the future. In 1S63 he congratulated 
 her — then with her father on a visit to Iowa and 
 Michigan, on all she had seen through her opportuni- 
 ties of travel. He mentioned especially the cities of 
 Albany, New York, Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Du- 
 buque, and expressed pleasure that she, although " a 
 poor man's wife," was seeing a little of what they had 
 dreamed and talked about together. He added of him- 
 self: " I think I shall go to Sodus Bay some time this 
 week. We are getting up a party for the trip. I learn 
 the scenery is considered quite equal to the Thousand 
 Islands." 
 
 Even amid the distractions of his soldier life, he 
 never wrote a letter that had not in it some touch of 
 description which showed his keen and interested ob- 
 servation of men high and low, of their manners, and 
 of the country through which he was called to pass. 
 Every change of scene was an open book, studied with 
 delight or with grave contemplation. 
 
 It was to recuperate his exhausted physical forces that 
 Dr. Steele and his wife took their first tour abroad. The 
 118 
 
The Traveller 
 
 heavy task of the " United States History " left him much 
 worn. In April, 1871, when the book was about to be 
 issued, General Barnes wrote : 
 
 " I am alarmed at your report of your health. We are 
 all very anxious about you and not only permit — we insist 
 on — -your discontinuing book work until your health is fully 
 established. Get away from home and travel. An entire 
 change of thought and scene is wliat you need." 
 
 Again, .September : " This will never, never do, my friend. 
 I am glad the history and all its worry are over. I guess 
 you would better take six months for play. Never mind 
 our business agreement. If this pressure breaks you down 
 I shall never forgive myself." 
 
 In January, 1872, the anxious friend wrote Mrs. Steele, 
 urging her to co-operate with him in influencing the 
 tired teacher and author to rest. Later in the same 
 month, having meantime withdrawn from school work, 
 Dr. Steele received the following : 
 
 " As for mj plans, they are briefly these : Take that good 
 little wife and start for Europe — instanter ! " 
 
 That this advice was briskly followed, the following 
 from " A. C. B." will show : 
 
 Feb. 21, 1872 : " My dear Profkin, — By this time, or here- 
 abouts, the raging ocean delivers you to the smiling land, 
 and you are congratulating yourselves that your probation, 
 as toilers of the sea, is nearly or quite accomplished. Per- 
 haps, however, you would rather linger awhile yet upon the 
 bounding billow. It may have its advantage since you are 
 thinking about writing that Physiology. Surely the facili- 
 ties for contemplating the fearful and wonderful processes 
 of your own and others' ' innards ' must tempt you to re- 
 main as long as possible — a martyr to science. What 
 were the revelations of St. Martin's patent stomach com- 
 pared to such phenomena!" 
 
 119 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 The tourists passed the winter months in France and 
 Italy, the early summer in England and Scotland. 
 
 " I remember " — Dr. Steele wrote a year later to General 
 Barnes, then on the Continent — " how I rejoiced to get out 
 of Italy and go into a civilized country — away from a 
 nation of fleas, dirt, laziness and beggars. Yet those an- 
 noyances are quickly forgot, and one thinks not of what 
 Italy is but of what she was. In front of my bed hangs 
 one of those huge photographs of the grand old Colosseum, 
 and every morning, when my eyes first open, they catch a 
 glimpse of the spot where I spent so many delightful hours 
 while I was in Rome. At night we often place our lamp 
 under the picture, and turning the light low we have the 
 Colosseum by moonlight. It is a perfect reahzation of the 
 scene — the arcades, the deep recesses lying in shade, 
 the long lanes of light, the dim, mysterious softness, — all 
 bring back the thought of the hour when I stood by the 
 cross in the middle of the arena, spell-bound by the memo- 
 ries of the place." 
 
 It was after the return from Italy to England that 
 the Doctor had the pleasure of examining the superb 
 cabinets of minerals and precious stones owned by the 
 Baroness Burdett-Coutts, and of being entertained by 
 her. It came about in this way : 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Steele had been in Naples during the 
 seismic agitation that preceded the great eruption of 
 Vesuvius in 1872. In fact, they left the city only 
 three hours before the outburst of lava that destroyed 
 Torre del Greco, wiped the Hermitage out of existence, 
 surrounded and smothered a party of English tourists, 
 and terrified all Naples by its underground conspiracy 
 with the nether world in general. 
 
 Their ascent of the mountain, three days before, had 
 been full of startling incident. Frequent mutterings 
 
The Traveller 
 
 and several outbursts of stones, with a volume of sul- 
 phuric gas which made breath a terror and sight an 
 impossibility, had enlivened their upward struggle 
 toward the new crater which had burst into being 
 with the body, glow and heat of a hundred fiery furnaces. 
 On one occasion the brigandish-looking Italians who 
 balanced Mrs. Steele's chair on their shoulders — for 
 there was no mountain railroad then — nearly spilled 
 her out, and apologized by declaring that the mountain 
 was "getting dangerous." 
 
 As this assertion went before a demand for four bot- 
 tles of Lachrimse Christi to stay their nerves, it was 
 received as the usual chaff for tourists. So also were 
 the asseverations next day of their guide to Pompeii, 
 though the air was so filled with ashes that the horses 
 would occasionally turn squarely around, to escape the 
 driving ash-storm pouring down the volcanic summit, 
 and the suffering riders bound their handkerchiefs over 
 their eyes for hke protection. 
 
 Their escort, a guide of thirty-five years' experience, 
 said he had " never seen another day like that." But 
 in their hearts the travellers had little faith in a courier's 
 tale, and placidly believing old Vesuvius to be drawing 
 his normal, everyday breath, insisted on proceeding. 
 Afterward they learned how exceptional was their ex- 
 perience, and how full of interest it was to those more 
 familiarly acquainted than they with ordinary volcanic 
 behavior. 
 
 After the eruption, a philanthropic Englishman gave 
 a lecture in London, describing the attendant phe- 
 nomena and exhibiting specimens of the new and old 
 lava streams. This was for the relief of homeless suf- 
 ferers in Naples and the Vesuvian suburbs, toward which 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 the Baroness donated one hundred pounds, while in 
 return the lecturer presented her with the lava speci- 
 mens. Dr. Tennant, the eminent English scientist, to 
 whom Dr. Steele had taken a letter of introduction, 
 had charge of the Burdett-Coutts fine collection of 
 minerals and invited his American friend to accompany 
 him in arranging the fresh acquisition. 
 
 While the scientists were thus engaged the Baroness 
 with a lady friend entered, and learning that Dr. Steele 
 had left Naples on the day of the eruption asked for the 
 story of his visit. When it was told, she assured him 
 his account was much more philosophic and interesting 
 than that of the lecturer, and she invited the two gentle- 
 men into her private apartments for luncheon. 
 
 The luncheon was according to the English custom 
 of reserving all ceremony for the stately dinner and 
 making the other meals delightfully informal. The 
 four being seated, the head butler and three assistants 
 removed the covers and at a sign from the hostess 
 quietly retired. The gentlemen served the ladies, ris- 
 ing and going to the sideboard for the fruits and sweets 
 which completed the courses, the head butler removing 
 the plates so unobtrusively that his entrance and exit 
 were hardly noticed. 
 
 No better promoter of genial and unrestrained con- 
 versation could be devised, or one more conducive to 
 the sparkling bans mots that form the brilliants in the 
 circlet of intellectual table talk. The Baroness was in 
 excellent spirits and highly complimentary toward her 
 chance guest — " the entertaining American." Alto- 
 gether the occasion was one of the most novel and 
 interesting of many in which Dr. Steele participated in 
 his journeys up and down the world. 
 
 122 
 
The Traveller 
 
 In July, 1872, the travellers returned, to spend some 
 months at the home of Mrs. Steele's father in Water- 
 town, where the " Physiology " was revised. Dr. Steele 
 was much refreshed. He had found new strength for 
 body and spirit in the lands that hold their riches in such 
 alluring affluence of romantic and scholarly association. 
 
 A part of the following winter they boarded in El- 
 mira. In April, 1873, they sailed again, remaining 
 abroad until July, 1874. They went first to Ireland 
 and Scotland for several weeks, after which they studied 
 in the British Museum in London until August, when 
 they met General and Mrs. Barnes in Paris, as already 
 recorded. In London they were for a time settled at 
 Dulwich, near the Crystal Palace, in the family of the 
 celebrated B. Waterhouse Hawkins, but later took rooms 
 nearer the Museum. Dr. Steele's letters show this 
 summer to have been an eventful one. Brief extracts 
 are given, taken from his correspondence of that 
 period. Though quoted without much connection, the 
 unstudied paragraphs show the temper of the traveller 
 and are a true reflection of the man who had a child's 
 delight in the passing show, united to a well-poised 
 man's sense of values. 
 
 July 8, 1873 '• " Everybody has run wild over the Shah. 
 No American furor I have ever witnessed can compare 
 with the complete abajidon of the English pursuit of this 
 Persian monarch. They have run after him like a crowd 
 of boys after a hand-organ and monkey. There are, of 
 course, political reasons. As for us, we have seen the old 
 Mussulman from our hired window, until we are more than 
 satisfied. Beside him were the Czarewitch, heir apparent 
 to the Russian throne, and the Czarina, sister of their own 
 beloved Princess, but the Persian barbarian monopolized all 
 the British cheers." 
 
 123 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 July 10 : " We have spent a day at the Zoo and in driving 
 with a party of American friends through the parks, and I 
 have been a pilgrim to the tomb of Wesley in Bunhill 
 Cemetery, where DeFoe, Dr. Watts, Bunyan, and other cel- 
 ebrated dissenters lie buried." 
 
 August 4 : " We made a delightful trip the other day to 
 Stoke Poges to view the little old church, and the graveyard 
 where Gray wrote his ' Elegy.' It is a delightfully rural and 
 quaintly tumble-down affair. There is the very tombstone 
 — that of his mother — on which Gray sat; so also did we, 
 watching the venerable yew-tree's shade marking the curfew 
 tower, and weaving the whole scene into the lines we duti- 
 fully quoted with an awed delight. One sees it — almost feels 
 it — ^as he did, and as he has immortalized it. 
 
 " Then, after an hour of quiet contemplation, we rode 
 to Burnham Beeches, where we enjoyed a bit of sylvan land- 
 scape such as England alone can boast. The curious old 
 beech-trees, gnarled and knotted, scraggy and hollow, huge 
 beyond belief, are scattered over many an acre. I wish you 
 could be with me some pleasant afternoon to lie in their dense 
 shade, and talk of the olden time when Robin Hood could 
 have made his bows here, and Cliarles II. might have found 
 plenty of capital hidingplaces had he come this way. Such 
 might-have-beens throng fast on the mind amid such sur- 
 roundings." 
 
 From August until the middle of December, Dr. and 
 Mrs. Steele were in Paris working on the " French His- 
 tory." They remained after the departure of General 
 Barnes and his family, to whom they often wrote : 
 
 To General Barnes. Nov. 2: "I met yesterday Made- 
 moiselle Boucher, late instructress, governess, and purveyor 
 of the Barnes family. She seemed in a happy frame of 
 mind and meandered 'round from Rue Scribe to the Boule- 
 vard. Saturday I spent a half hour on the Bourse. Out- 
 side the battlefield I never heard an equal to its clamor. 
 The violent screeching and everlasting wrangle filled the 
 I 24 
 
The Traveller 
 
 arched roof with waves of sound which seemed to accumu- 
 late and rattle down in short, sharp pellets of noise, beating 
 on the ear heavily and continuously." 
 
 From Rue Jacob Mrs. Steele wrote Mrs. Barnes, Novem- 
 ber lo: "It has been very cold here since you left, and it 
 has exhausted the greater part of my energy to keep the fire 
 prosperous. I have a severe cold and present an appearance 
 truly foreign, with three shawls about me — one around my 
 shoulders, one over my lap and one wound about my feet. 
 M. Dandeville recommended mittens as a very comfortable 
 thing in winter when one is sitting a good deal ! " 
 
 Nov. 15, Dr. Steele wrote General Barnes: "The weather 
 is very pleasant, clear, bright, but cold. We are trying to 
 learn the construction and management of a French fire. It 
 takes coal and wood, unfortunately, and the tuition therefore 
 is expensive, in spite of great economy and the consumption 
 of two candles every evening." 
 
 Near this date he writes indignantly of a play pre- 
 sented in Paris, called " Uncle Sam." Sensitive as he 
 was to foreign opinion about American society, he re- 
 sented its misrepresentation. 
 
 " The play takes certain phases of American life that do 
 not exist contemporaneously, and exaggerates them. The 
 American heroine gives the hero a meeting, alone, in her 
 private apartments. They go off together for two days. He 
 makes love to her in French fashion, she sighs and blows 
 like an asthmatic bellows. The rough Irishman who ma- 
 nipulates votes, stalks into a lady's boudoir and talks politics. 
 A gentleman-clergyman walks out with his spiritual-affinity 
 wife, who is also the wife of another man who carries her 
 bundles in the background. The whole thing is made up of 
 American excrescences and brought out with French man- 
 ners and style. We were much disgusted." 
 
 His Americanism always expressed itself in disapproval 
 of anything discreditable to his country and its people. 
 
 125 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 In Stuttgart, whither they went from Paris, he was much 
 annoyed by the conduct of a woman who claimed first 
 seat on all occasions as an American of exalted rank. 
 She dressed loudly and had always a host of young Ger- 
 man ofificers in her train. Her imprudences were com- 
 mon comment, and, judging American wives in general 
 by her, a German woman of social position remarked to 
 Mrs. Steele, " Many of my friends, who know no other 
 American women, always make the sign of the cross 
 when they are mentioned." Dr. Steele wrote : " As an 
 
 American, Mrs. is not a success. It is humiliating 
 
 to think that foreigners are led to judge our wives and 
 daughters by this woman, who is trailing an honorable 
 American name in the mire. I hope she is only an ad- 
 venturess and that her false pretensions may be exposed." 
 The lady was afterward invited to leave the hotel. In 
 Stuttgart, Dr. Steele studied German educational methods, 
 about which he later wrote two or three excellent lectures 
 and parlor talks. The " French History " also was ad- 
 vanced there. He met many people of note. But he 
 left without regret. 
 
 January 21, 1874 : " The birds this morning sing under my 
 window as sweetly as if it were April. Yet the air is unin- 
 spiring and I long for the thrill and tingle of a good North- 
 ern winter's day. I shall hail the summer and flit across the 
 Atlantic joyfully. I have had enough of Germany, thank 
 you ! Yankees are good enough for me ! " 
 
 In February, Dr. and Mrs. Steele began a tour of six 
 weeks through Dresden, Berlin, and other German cities. 
 March 20 they reached London, again taking up work 
 in the British Museum, making from thence some inter- 
 esting excursions. 
 
 126 
 
The Traveller 
 
 April 22 : " On Tuesday next we start for Brighton, 
 Isle of Wight, Salisbury, Tintern Abbey, Llangollen, 
 Snowdon, Britannia Bridge, Dublin, and Killarney. We 
 have high expectations of that to end off our European 
 travels. 
 
 " Saturday I was present at the obsequies of Livingstone, 
 and saw his coffin lowered into the grave in the main aisle 
 of Westminster Abbey. It was a magnificent, solemn 
 spectacle. The greatest men of England were present, 
 eager to do honor to the illustrious dead. The Queen in 
 her gracious pleasure sanctioned the ceremony, by sending 
 her empty carriage to follow the hearse. Our President came 
 to New York to bury Greeley. But this act of the Queen 
 was here considered a mighty condescension." 
 
 May I : " At Brighton we spent a delightful half day in 
 the great Aquarium. Then crossing to Ryde we took a 
 forty-mile sweep on the Isle of Wight. The scenery along 
 the coast is charming. The gashes in the hills, the beetling 
 cliffs, the fresh foliage, the nestling bays, the clustering 
 villages all make a rich variety. Back to the mainland, we 
 took the train at Gosport and rode to Salisbury, wandered 
 about its cathedral by moonlight and by daylight, and above 
 all saw the bleak, desolate plains — and Stonehenge ! Words 
 fail me here. I leave you to imagine it, and only say it 
 satisfied. 
 
 "This morning I 'spilled over' at Chester. The mag- 
 nificent view from the Wyndecliffe, the picturesque banks of 
 the Wye, and the famous old ruins of the ' Abbaye of Tin- 
 turne ' — as the chronicles have it — were more than I could 
 take in, and as if that were not enough, at noon we went to 
 Newport, and all this afternoon we have been running up 
 through Wales, skirting the most beautiful valleys and, every 
 instant almost, catching glimpses of a wonderful prospect. I 
 sat almost the whole time in a very quiver of delight, thrilled 
 with the sense of beauty. To-morrow we go on to Ban- 
 gor or, may be, shall cross over to Dublin. But then, the 
 best of all to us is the thought that every mile takes us nearer 
 home and friends." 
 
 127 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 His happiness in going home was unbounded. On 
 board ship he expressed in a letter the pleasure he had 
 found in his glorious season of travel, but added : 
 
 " To me, however, the great joy lies in the fact that I am 
 going home. I never loved my native land, her people, her 
 institutions and her customs, more than I do now. My heart 
 goes out in solemn thanksgiving for her social and religious 
 freedom. I look eagerly to a land where the only nobility is 
 that of manhood." 
 
 He found the class distinctions of the old world ex- 
 tremely distasteful. The only eminence to his Uking 
 was that founded on those qualities which could com- 
 mend themselves to a citizen of a republic. The pomp 
 of social circumstance often aroused his disdain : 
 
 "England likes proud footmen, royal fuss and feathers, 
 and titled pomposities. To be born a Duke is here greater 
 than to be an Agassiz, a Milton, a Cuvier. No money, no 
 talent, no genius, no discovery, no invention, can place a man 
 on a par with birth. Murchison, Livingstone, or Tyndall 
 had no position beside a Duke or Marquis." 
 
 In August, 1877, Mrs. Steele's father died, and soon 
 afterward the third foreign tour was taken. They re- 
 mained in London that winter and spent six or eight 
 weeks in Paris after the opening of the Exposition. Just 
 before their return to America in July, 1878, they en- 
 joyed a charming visit of a week in a typical English 
 home — that of Dr. Core in Manchester, who had been 
 reviewing the manuscript for Dr. Steele's " Physics." Dr. 
 Core had been recommended by Dr. Balfour Stewart, 
 for whom he had performed the same service. While 
 on this visit to Dr. and Mrs. Core, the Americans met 
 128 
 
The Traveller 
 
 Dr. Balfour Stewart and many other distinguished scien- 
 tific men. 
 
 In 1 88 1 Dr. Steele was again in Europe. July i6, 
 he wrote : 
 
 " London is full of Americans. I should judge there were 
 five hundred at Spurgeon's on Sunday. He gave us a 
 glorious sermon on ' Christ our Apple tree.' You remem- 
 ber the verse in the Song of Solomon." 
 
 July 28, 1 88 1. London : " Yesterday I attended the funeral 
 of Dean Stanley. There were only eighteen hundred tickets 
 issued, so 1 consider myself fortunate in receiving one. The 
 ceremonies were very impressive and the attendance of high 
 dignitaries was beyond anything I have ever witnessed. The 
 Prince of Wales, several princes of the blood, Dukes, Bish- 
 ops, Professors of high renown, and commoners known on 
 both sides the Atlantic, thronged the Abbey. The untitled 
 jostled against my Lord and Lady, and all sank to the level 
 of vulgar sight-seers. The story of the scramble is long and 
 I must leave it until I see you. It is hardly credible. 
 
 " There were quite a number of Americans present. 
 Mr. F sent some flowers. Mr. D secured a re- 
 served seat, on the score, I believe, that he once gave the 
 Dean some American bread and butter, and fed him with 
 taffy when he was in New York. It is said the Dean was 
 ' sweet on New York ' after that. Perhaps it had an inter- 
 national influence. 
 
 " The Queen sent a wreath of roses with a line in her own 
 hand. She writes legibly and neatly. 
 
 " I need not give a description of the pageant, as you have 
 already seen that in the New York papers. It is a constant 
 wonder to me to find how fully our home papers keep up 
 with the Enghsh news ; even the minor gossip and detail of 
 the daily London press appear, summed up, somewhere ! " 
 
 Paris, Aug. 23, 1881 : " I have just made the acquaintance 
 of Mr. Eads, of Mississippi River fame. He is a very pleas- 
 ant man indeed. I suppose you saw him on your trip to 
 New Orleans. He has told me all about his ship-railroad 
 9 129 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 plans. They are wonderful — and, if any one can work 
 them out, he is the man." 
 
 August 26, 1 88 1 : " The streets of Paris are by no means 
 so pleasant as when you and I trudged to and fro along the 
 Seine and among the book stalls. . . . One very agreeable 
 change has been made. Nearly all the omnibuses have been 
 fitted up with winding stairs to ascend to the top, such as 
 you remember were on the Sevres tram-car, on which we 
 travelled one memorable summer day during your visit here. 
 
 " Well, I soon detected the convenient arrangement, and 
 this afternoon took Mrs. Steele and our niece Nellie upon 
 the top of a huge omnibus the whole length of the Boule- 
 vards, Rue St. Honor^ and the Champs tlysdes. We de- 
 scended at various points and visited everything of interest 
 on our way. 
 
 " The view is infinitely better than from a voiture, while 
 the cost of the whole was exactly three francs and sixty 
 centimes. So we had the satisfaction of getting a better 
 thing for less money — a combination not often found. We 
 went at an hour when few workmen were moving, and by 
 watching our chance got front seats next the driver, where 
 we escaped the cigar puffers behind. Mrs. Steele pro- 
 nounced the trip without a rival, and I expect I shall be 
 called upon for an encore. 
 
 " To do this feat successfully one needs to get an omni- 
 bus map, study it carefully, have patience, and know how to 
 use French with the men in charge. I found my fellow 
 travellers only too anxious to tell the name of everything we 
 passed en route, and to aid us to the utmost. The French 
 sentences I threw at the people must have equalled Mr. 
 Wegg's ' staggerers,' but the imperturbable countenances of 
 the French carried them through, and they made no sign. 
 
 " By the way, a friend, long resident in Paris, tells me 
 that it is not the politeness of the French that keeps them 
 from laughing when people make mistakes of this sort in 
 their presence, but they actually see no fun in it. To the 
 Frenchman there is nothing in a verbal blunder to laugh at, 
 — it is a solemn reality." 
 
 130 
 
The Traveller 
 
 Paris, Sept. 2, 1881 : " I want to tell you how much 
 I have enjoyed the International Electrical Exposition. 
 When I first arrived I met Minister White, who had 
 stopped here on his way home from Berlin. He told me 
 how valuable the exhibition is and I immediately went to 
 see for myself. I have spent nearly all my time there. 
 It is worth a passage across the Atlantic. Everything in 
 the history of electricity is on view, and every novelty in 
 theory and application can be compared with another. I 
 can hardly talk of anything else. 
 
 " We are going back to London. I shall atterad the Great 
 CEcumenical Conference of the Methodist Church occasion- 
 ally, but the majority of the last days left us now will go 
 into the Museum." 
 
 In 1883, in reply to a letter from General Barnes, 
 again abroad, Dr. Steele said : 
 
 " Would I had been your guide in the British Museum ! 
 I am sure I could have found, on many an Assyrian slab, 
 a better ' giddy throng ' than that of which you speak. 
 Yea, I could make you forget all about Hyde Park in 
 the presence of some four-thousand-years-ago Egyptian 
 aristocrats. Especially I should have liked Mrs. Steele 
 there to show you the original of her graphic scenes, and 
 let you see how the pictures really represent what the 
 people of those times thought of themselves. But instead 
 of this we are toiling over the 'Modern Peoples.' I am 
 making a desperate effort to have it out by September first. 
 I have added several new features as we have progressed. 
 Mrs. Steele has just finished a delicious chapter on ' Life 
 in Merrie England under Queen Bess.' I am busy condens- 
 ing Louis XIV. and putting him in small packages. The 
 Grand Monarch would have been shocked had he dreamed 
 it would ever be proposed to give him only five pages in a 
 History. But to such limits have I squeezed him, red shoes, 
 floured wig and all!" 
 
 131 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Other letters to his friend speak of his work and of 
 his wish that it did not prevent him from another enjoy- 
 ment of certain points abroad in the good company of a 
 congenial spirit. But, except in memory, he travelled 
 no more beyond those places in his own country where 
 duty, pleasure, or the need of relaxation called him. 
 
 132 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE HOME-KEEPING HEART 
 
 HE was happy as he tarried or wandered among new 
 scenes, but his home-keeping heart was happiest. 
 From that summer day in 1859 when he was united to her 
 who so fully possessed his love, the place dearest to him 
 was where they might, at will, shut out the world and 
 be a better world to each other. In every separation 
 his letters longingly pictured the reunion of the home- 
 circle, and his daily Civil War letter had always some 
 yearning, pathetic reference to " our quiet home." 
 
 " My heart can hardly wait until war is past and I can 
 once more take up our happy life in Mexico, in that home 
 where we had no cares and together did the work I love." 
 
 After the Newark School engagement was made and 
 while Mrs. Steele was in the west visiting a married sister, 
 Dr. Steele rented a pretty cottage and had it entirely 
 fitted up for her return as a surprise to her. The whole 
 village was interested, and planned to be at the house 
 to witness the denouement. But the friend with whom 
 Mrs. Steele supposed she and her husband were to board 
 telegraphed the returning traveller to come a day earlier, 
 thus preventing a kindly-meant reception which might 
 have been rather overwhelming. 
 
 The surprise was a great success. The husband took 
 the wife ostensibly to their landlady's home, where she 
 133 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 thought it a matter of course to find their own furniture 
 in rooms that were to be theirs. It was not until she 
 was hospitably shown over the rest of the house that she 
 divined the loving scheme. 
 
 The memory of their sojourn there was always dear to 
 him. From Elmira in 1867 he wrote Mrs. Steele, then 
 visiting in Newark : 
 
 " I keep wondering what you do, where you stop, and 
 how you get along, and imagining whom of all our friends 
 you are greeting and if it seems as much like home to you 
 as ever. I so much prefer that quiet, country life. It seems 
 as if I should be perfectly happy to-day if I had a place 
 there this spring, a garden to make, chickens to feed and a 
 cow to milk, through all the long vacation." 
 
 His attachment to people and places, dear through 
 association, partook to the end of life of the same affec- 
 tionate tenacity. It was this trait which determined him 
 to fix upon Elmira as a permanent home when certain 
 considerations seemed to make other cities more practi- 
 cally desirable. 
 
 He had sold the Lake Street house near the Academy 
 when he went to Europe in 1872, and on the return 
 from the second trip abroad the question of another 
 purchase came up. The book publishers persuasively 
 suggested New York ; the faculty and trustees of Syra- 
 cuse University urged Syracuse ; Dr. and Mrs. Steele 
 had serious thoughts of a country house on the Hudson. 
 But the clinging of the heart to Elmira, the dread of 
 again breaking church and social ties, prevailed. 
 
 Mrs. Steele was absent when their latest home was 
 bought and all the conditions and the arguments for and 
 against were discussed by letter. When everything was 
 at last decided Dr. Steele's joy knew no bounds. 
 134 
 
The Home-Keeping Heart 
 
 "O, with what unutterable longing I look forward to 
 the prospect. I have grown tired enough of this straggling, 
 hubbub life, when we could be so happy and comfortable 
 by ourselves in our own quiet home. I begrudge every day 
 of nomadic existence and the happiness it is losing us. I 
 was never gladder than at the prospect of getting you here 
 and into oitr own house once more. There is hard work to 
 be done but then it will be home — a permanent one I hope 
 — and I am well content." 
 
 There were many alterations necessary and it was not 
 until November 1874 that they found themselves settled. 
 That winter was one of great enjoyment after three years 
 of wandering and boarding. So also passed the spring 
 and summer of 1875, Dr. Steele taking keen pleasure 
 in his garden, a pleasure constant and lifelong, dating 
 from their earliest married years. 
 
 From Newark, May 25, 1865, he had writtten : 
 
 " Our garden prospers. I set out a lot of tomato plants 
 last night. I now have eighty-six alive and in good health. 
 I have hoed my corn. We have had lettuce twice. I have 
 never eaten tenderer." 
 
 Elmira, 1868 : " The garden gives me great satisfaction. I 
 worked there two hours last night." 
 
 July 4, 1876: "Yesterday I set out cabbage plants and tur- 
 nips. Our lettuce is now crisp and delicious. I am tying it 
 up every day to keep dense heads ready for use. Will have 
 some blanched for you when you return." 
 
 In 1880: "Our early peas are coming up. Very prompt, 
 is n't it ? Just think — only April sixteenth ! We have never 
 had such a season since I made garden on West Clinton 
 Street. I drove down to Griswold's nursery yesterday to 
 get some new grape-vines. The air after the rain was ex- 
 hilarating. I wished you were with me to share in the 
 pleasure. Prince made some good bursts of speed." 
 
 135 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 May 27, 1S82: "Our radishes are melting for sweetness 
 and tenderness. My hotbed is the best I have seen any- 
 where." 
 
 To General Barnes he wrote August 14, 1885 : 
 
 " It would he delightful to join you and yours at the sea- 
 shore and renew our Rue Jacob experiences a little bit. The 
 difficulty is my home is so attractive now, the garden so fas- 
 cinating, the vegetables so luscious, the flowers so beautiful, 
 and the hills so invigorating. I really dislike to leave 
 Elmira at this delightful season of the year. As I write, the 
 rain has just ceased and my lawn is green and fair as any I 
 ever saw in Merrie England. Why should I not stay and 
 make the most of it after my long work ? " 
 
 To this beloved home he welcomed many, — his church 
 people, his old pupils, various savants who delighted in 
 his company and the friends who lay nearest his heart. 
 Referring to a projected visit from General Barnes, he 
 wrote, June 1875 : 
 
 " \iyou prefer you may go to the hotel. We prefer to 
 have you stay with us. We can shelter both you and your 
 troop. As to pieces of baggage, we can make room for 
 any small number — say two to six — in our house ; I have a 
 barn besides, and yard room, and I could rent a tenant house 
 near by. I shall pile up my books, throw away my pen and 
 ink and give myself up to a grand jollification while you are 
 here. I only wish it could last longer." 
 
 In his home, most of her life from childhood, lived a 
 fiivorite niece of Mrs. Steele, and later an adopted son, 
 both of whom he took into his fatherly heart. His 
 talent for parenthood is in part shown by quotations from 
 letters to Mrs. Steele : 
 
 Sept. 6, 1868 : " I do not object to Nellie's romping. It 
 will develop a good, solid, physical foundation. Better that 
 136 
 
The Home-Keeping Heart 
 
 than to be puny and feeble. We will let her romp miscel- 
 laneously and only ' cultivate ' enough to keep the better 
 ideas of life before her — understanding that the aim of all 
 things is preparation for the future." 
 
 Again: " My love to all — especially Nellie. Is she not 
 ready to come home ? I have a great deal to tell her. The 
 circus and many other things have been in town. Kiss 
 her on any smooth spot for me." 
 
 With what seriousness, yet humorous sympathy for 
 childhood, does he speak of his experience when left 
 alone to care for the children : 
 
 " I cannot say our young gentleman has become an angel 
 since you left. His spots are still visible even to the naked 
 eye. But he is trying, he says, to be good all the week and 
 I think he is making considerable exertion. Yesterday he 
 was put into the chair for meditation only once, and that 
 not till evening. It was quite a red-letter day in his calendar 
 and he points to it with much satisfaction because, except 
 for that one mistake, he was very pleasant and kind and got 
 his candies, and some applause from the pit." 
 
 In a letter inclosed in his will he mentions these 
 beloved members of his family with pathetic tender- 
 ness, — having already provided liberally for their future 
 financial needs. 
 
 One of his especial favorites was the little daughter of 
 his publisher-friend. 
 
 " I am greatly obliged," he wrote General Barnes, " for 
 Hattie's photograph. She has, as you know, long been 
 beloved by me. May she always keep as good and pure as 
 she is beautiful." 
 
 Dr. Steele's home life, however busy, always included 
 thoughtful oversight and appreciation of the humblest 
 
 137 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 worker in his household. He mentions that the new 
 man-of-all-work has learned to manage the furnace to 
 perfection and that he " changes the cold-air draft with 
 intelligence and without watching — as wind and weather 
 demand." He tells how he has settled the business of 
 the cook's late hours by a thorough talk, " yet all was 
 done kindly and pleasantly," and he is " pleased with 
 her forbearance and submission. She serves all the 
 meals well and cheerfully ; everything is as you would 
 wish it." 
 
 His interest in all that pertained to the home was 
 keen and helpful. Always gentle, always considerate, he 
 treated every wish of its mistress with a courtly defer- 
 ence and decision which made her rule over others easy 
 and absolute. His domestic sense took account of every 
 department. One vacation when he had been married 
 about four years and Mrs. Steele was necessarily absent 
 for some time, he electrified her by writing that he had 
 "put up in cans about thirty quarts of berries," and 
 added : " If you disapprove of this you can take them 
 out and re-can or jam them or whatever else you call it." 
 
 His enjoyment of the personal possessions that be- 
 came theirs in early life by dint of economy and plan- 
 ning was as great as in those larger treasures that came 
 so easily in later days : 
 
 July 31, 1864: "When I returned through Rochester, I 
 remembered the lack of religious works in our library and 
 bought ' Counsel and Comfort ' and ' The Everyday Philoso- 
 pher,' by the Country Parson ; ' Views and Experiences on 
 Religious Subjects' by Henry Ward Beecher; 'Thoughts 
 for the Christian Life,' a series of most excellent sermons 
 by Drummond with an introduction by Dr. Holland. I am 
 delighted since buying. The Country Parson is, you know, 
 138 
 
The Home-Keeping Heart 
 
 considered among the best of ' Atlantic Monthly ' writers. I 
 want also Dr. Clark's new work, ' Man all Immortal.' I 
 shall buy this at Buffalo this week. I wish I could afford a 
 set of Irving. I read his ' Mahomet and his Successors' 
 this week. It was like the ' Arabian Nights.' Still I have 
 a higher idea of the Prophet than before. He was a real 
 presence." 
 
 April, 1874 — ten years later — he wrote General 
 Barnes : 
 
 " Your plans for a library stir my blood. I do so much 
 want and need one myself. I have now about three thous- 
 and volumes to put on the shelves, so I could arrange 
 by subjects at once. Perhaps the books may sell briskly 
 enough to enable 7ne also to put up an appropriate and there- 
 fore more modest library. I cotdd get along without stained 
 glass windows or a Guido Reni in the ceiling." 
 
 But no wish for what he would like and had not, 
 cheated him of pleasure in that he had : 
 
 To his wife, May 10, 1869: "As usual, when you are 
 gone from home, I sit down at my desk in the old corner, 
 where I have written for so many hours. This may not be 
 a very handsome desk nor very valuable, but it has seen some 
 days of hard work and some triumphs achieved. It is almost 
 sacred to me with its wealth of associations. I bought and 
 paid for it when I could not afford anything better. I cling 
 to it now when my purse has grown somewhat longer — and 
 better filled at that." 
 
 This desk still stands with the workman's tools upon 
 it and the workman's unfinished manuscript within it. 
 By the side of the rusted pen, the bottle of dried ink, 
 and other writing implements, unused since the hand 
 that made them sacred was stilled, love places its daily 
 offering of flowers. The chair, with a silken sash tied 
 139 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 across its arms, has never invited another occupant. 
 But "His Corner" is hardly more orderly now than 
 when it was the scene of his busy labors, for the personal 
 habits of Dr. Steele were those of the most refined neat- 
 ness and system. He knew where every book in his 
 library should be, and every scrap of paper on his desk. 
 So it was in his teaching days with the intricate appar- 
 atus of his laboratory, on any piece of which he could 
 lay his hand in the darkest night without mistake. 
 This instructive systemization, so apparent in all he 
 undertook, doubtless contributed largely toward his suc- 
 cess in literary work. 
 
 More and more as years went by, the heart of the 
 home-lover turned toward its satisfying tranquillity. In 
 July, 1884, he was obliged for literary reasons to be in 
 Saratoga on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his marriage. 
 On that day Mrs. Steele received from him an anni- 
 versary letter of such delicacy, fervor and beauty of 
 sentiment as might well place it among the model love- 
 letters of the world. A few lines outside the body of 
 the letter, which he called a " Lean-to " read thus : 
 
 " Isn't it a delight, too, that when I come home it will not 
 be to go off to some store or office, but just to sit down in 
 the familiar spot, to talk it all over together and float on as 
 we will down the stream ? The channel is dug ; the tide 
 is strong ; our bark is fairly launched and success has 
 crowned our endeavor. At the quarter-of-a-century turn it 
 will not be amiss for us to number up all God's mercies. I 
 am so grateful and happy to-night in spite of my exile. It 
 seems as if you were very near." 
 
 Of the home life of Dr. Steele, a Kentucky lady who 
 was a familiar visitor, wrote after his death : 
 140 
 
The Home-Keeping Heart 
 
 "While others may speak strongly and lovingly of this 
 man, great in wisdom and greater still in simplicity, I am 
 constrained to write of him as the charming host, and — 
 reverently — of what he was to her whom he left alone. As 
 I often went to that home unannounced it was easy to judge 
 him faithfully. 
 
 " He was always cordial in his greeting, even when busy 
 cares — and later weary pain — bore heavily upon him. At 
 his table, where conversation took a lighter turn, his eyes, 
 which having seen one can never forget, would lighten and 
 his whole expression be one of keenest interest. He was 
 emphatically a good listener. 
 
 " I can scarcely speak of his wonderful devotion to her 
 whom he loved so strongly and purely, without emotion. It 
 was that of one who had found all his longings satisfied in 
 her. 
 
 " To have known the home life of Dr. Steele is a blessing. 
 The sincere prayer arises : ' Make me better, O my Father, 
 because of it.' " 
 
 In i860, at twenty- four years of age, the young hus- 
 band had written : " Our new stove keeps fire most 
 beautifully. It had live coals from last evening at nine 
 until half-past eleven this morning." 
 
 Thus he loved from the first the light of his home fire 
 and all it symbolized. It was within sight of its chaste 
 glow that his final summons came. 
 
 141 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 AS OTHERS SAW HIM 
 
 MY first and intensest memory of Dr. Steele is as to the 
 inspiring quality of his glance. Not the dullest pupil 
 could withstand those life-full eyes. They positively com- 
 municated thought. A slumbering idea, a latent power of 
 expression, sprang into life under that gaze. His criticism 
 of a pupil's work, though thorough criticism, accompanied 
 by that look was never discouraging. You were always put 
 on your feet by it." 
 
 These, the words of the salutatorian of the Elmira 
 Free Academy class of 1868, confirm the testimony of 
 many others as to the peculiar power of his alert, 
 beholding eye. 
 
 Mrs. M. E. M. Davis, the New Orleans poet and 
 novelist, says in reminiscence of a visit of Dr. and Mrs. 
 Steele to that city : 
 
 " We sat one night on a wide gallery, draped with the 
 ' King's Colors,' and watched a carnival procession, glitter- 
 ing with lights and radiant with beauty, uncoil its shining 
 length along Canal Street. The theme was French History. 
 As one float passed with its group of figures, half mythical, 
 half historical, I said: 
 
 " * What does that group represent, Dr. Steele ? ' 
 
 " ' I do not know,' returned the learned scholar placidly. 
 
 " ' But,' I ventured, amazed, ' You who have written a 
 French History — do you really mean to say that you do 
 not know what this tableau from French History means .? ' 
 142 
 
As Others Saw Him 
 
 " He turned his beautiful eyes upon me, quizzical with 
 laughter. ' My dear child,' he said, ' No one can really 
 know more than a few things. The truly wise man is he 
 who knows where to find his facts when he wants them ! 
 And wiser is he,' he added gayly, ' who does not hunt facts 
 during the carnival ! ' With this he bent his eyes once 
 more on the merry scene in the street below. 
 
 " It is a privilege to have known such a man, so simple 
 and childlike, yet so strong and wise ; so brave and yet so 
 gentle; tender as a woman; sturdy and unflinching in char- 
 acter as one of his Puritan ancestors ; pure and noble of 
 mind, whose life made the world better, whose death left 
 a gap which cannot be filled. With a loving hand I write 
 these words." 
 
 Professor William Wells of Union College, once an 
 instructor at Genesee College, was at a Regents' Con- 
 vocation, where a paper on co-education was presented 
 by a committee who made no mention of the work done 
 at Genesee College and Syracuse University — the 
 former the first co-educational college founded in the 
 state, the latter its outgrowth. In these two institutions 
 the system of co-education had been adopted with fear 
 and trembling and became, a grand success through 
 obloquy and trial, 
 
 " The injustice of this cool neglect," said Professor Wells, 
 " or this incredible ignorance, aroused my own wrath and 
 its fervor was still more enkindled by the appealing eyes of 
 J. Dorman Steele, who sat facing me. Near him also was 
 a lady whose hfe and labors had been largely shaped by her 
 co-educational training at Genesee College. When the 
 modern Daniels had done, though not of the committee, I 
 rose and asked the privilege of presenting my case, and 
 I need hardly say that I felt the inspiration of my old pupils, 
 being especially aided by the beaming glances of Dr. Steele, 
 who was so excited that he could hardly keep still, while I 
 
 143 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 affirmed that co-education was a success before some of 
 those young men were born who were now reporting on it 
 as an experiment." 
 
 " In personal appearance," said one who described him 
 with an exact and pleasant pen, " Dr. Steele was tall and 
 slim ; his hair, brushed straight back, revealed a high, broad, 
 intellectual forehead; his eye was soft and pleasant; his 
 narrow face relieved by dark side-whiskers ; his mouth 
 indicative of firmness blended with gentleness. He was 
 quick to recognize the friends he met ; his eye kindled at the 
 sight, his voice was cheery, the grasp of his hand warm and 
 cordial. In conversation he was genial, social and instruc- 
 tive. His words flowed readily, and one rose from talking 
 with him feeling better and more inspired to action. He was 
 unselfish, generous, faithful — ready to praise what seemed 
 to him commendable, and to speak a kind word for all that 
 needed it." 
 
 Every one who conversed with him felt the charm of 
 his peculiar elevation of thought. Always natural, never 
 pedantic or obtrusive, with a large range of practical 
 and literary themes to draw from, his words were a 
 wealth of instruction. 
 
 Said a lady : " I shall never forget the day I walked 
 home with Dr. Steele from church, over twelve years 
 ago. I told my mother when I reached home that to 
 walk with him was an education." 
 
 It was at St, Augustine that Miss Berthe Louise 
 Quirin, of Boston — then a child of seven — made the 
 acquaintance of the grave but companionable Doctor. 
 
 " He was always ready to explain anything that perplexed 
 my childish mind. His clear and simple words impressed, 
 and his gentle, lovable nature attracted me. He never 
 posed, as so many do, in talking on serious subjects to 
 children, and a long talk with him was always a pleasure, 
 144 
 
As Others Saw Him 
 
 for he adapted himself to my understanding and led it into 
 channels of keen and delightful interest. Dr. Steele must 
 indeed have been a very fruitful teacher, under whom it was 
 good fortune to study. . . . 
 
 " He always had a pleasant smile for me and we soon 
 became great friends. We used to walk along the old sea- 
 wall, and though he seemed so grave and dignified, he would 
 laugh with me at the little funny stories and jokes I told 
 him. Young as I then was, the impression of his kindliness 
 has never faded." 
 
 ".It was during a winter spent in the land of sunshine and 
 flowers," writes Mrs. Hill, wife of Hon. David Jayne Hill, 
 Assistant Secretary of State, Washington, D. C, "that I 
 learned to know and love Dr. Steele. I feel that I met him 
 at his best, surrounded by the great kingdom of nature, 
 to which his soul was so keenly allied, and every mood and 
 variation of which were to him phases for interpretation. 
 
 " Any topic he touched upon became at once in the 
 simplest and most unostentatious manner a source of en- 
 lightenment. The charm of his speech, I think, lay in the 
 straightforward purity and simplicity of the man behind it, 
 and in a certain elegant absence of effort which at once put 
 his hearers completely at ease. 
 
 " Dr. Steele shone in the firmament of social life as he 
 did in the sphere of the intellectual. Even the ' clods ' felt 
 a stir of might under the stimulation of his presence. 
 
 " He was quick to recognize a joke, being endowed with 
 a preternaturally keen sense of humor, and his tongue was 
 not a whit behind when opportunity and his circle were to 
 his liking." 
 
 In every class of society the same traits won recogni- 
 tion. Bishop Charles H. Fowler, the celebrated orator, 
 was one of his College classmates. He says : 
 
 " I recall him as always pleasant. His open face, ready 
 smile, and genial recognition made him a welcome guest and 
 a delightful companion." 
 
 lo 145 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Shortly after Dr. Steele's death, Rev. Charles N. Sims, 
 then Chancellor of Syracuse University, wrote : 
 
 " My acquaintance with him began while I was a pastor in 
 Brooklyn and he was prospecting for a Chancellor. He had 
 been in my congregation, after services introduced himself 
 to me, and dined with me that afternoon. My first im- 
 pression never changed, except that my estimates grew 
 higher as I knew him better. 
 
 "He was a scholarly gentleman, a shrewd observer, a 
 man of excellent business and common sense. He was a 
 single-minded, reverential Christian, loving his church with 
 a steadiness and fervor arising from a conviction that it was 
 a great, saving grace among men. 
 
 " He possessed the rare capability of strong and perman- 
 ent friendship. He clung tenaciously to his friends and was 
 fortunate in holding them without estrangement. His legacy 
 to society is the record of a blameless Christian life ; of a 
 strong, earnest scholarship ; and an authorship which was a 
 valuable contribution to the educational facilities of hundreds 
 of thousands of young people who have used his text-books. 
 The world is better because he has lived in it." 
 
 Major George H. Stowitz, writing largely but not 
 entirely from a veteran's point of view, said : 
 
 " The memory of the personality, loyalty, and patriotism 
 of J. Dorman Steele is a pleasure. He came before the 
 State Teachers' Association, in session in Rochester, in the 
 summer of 1862, fresh from the battle-field, wounded, his 
 arm in a sling. Standing before that body of educators, in 
 his uniform of blue, he related in simple, eloquent words the 
 instant need of the government for more men. There was a 
 ready and united sympathy of feeling and approval, and the 
 writer, with other teachers, was soon enrolled to swell the 
 national army. . . . 
 
 " Few men have more endeared themselves to the fra- 
 ternity of educators than did Dr. Steele. The toil of his busy 
 146 
 
As Others Saw Him 
 
 brain will bear fruit, long after those who knew him and 
 rejoiced in his merited fame shall have passed away." 
 
 Such as those given were the affectionate words from 
 countless friends and admirers who had known him as 
 pupils, associates, fellow-soldiers, the companions of his 
 hours of work or leisure. Children, clergymen, educa- 
 tors, — each saw him from an individual standpoint, but 
 all with earnest admiration. The history of his life from 
 the beginning was full of the favor of God and man. A 
 letter from Benton C. Rude, Esq., the valedictorian of his 
 college class, shows how this was true of the youth, and 
 brings a breath of the fresh, young days of preparation 
 for all he had to do : 
 
 " I first became acquainted with Dr. Steele in September, 
 1855. I had just entered the freshman class of Genesee 
 College and he had just passed into the sophomore class. 
 We might have been long in getting acquainted but for the 
 fact that our peculiarities brought us together. Among the 
 many students, he attracted me first by his somewhat un- 
 usual pedestrian qualities. The prevailing college style 
 then was a slow, indolent, lounging gait, while young Steele 
 swung ahead with long, rapid strides, slightly leaning 
 forward, and looking neither to the right nor the left, as 
 though his presence was sorely needed somewhere and he 
 did not wish to keep anybody waiting. 
 
 " I had a strong sympathy with that kind of walk and my 
 performances doubtless attracted his attention as his had 
 mine, and in a few days we struck up an acquaintance which 
 became an intimacy that lasted throughout our college- 
 course and long afterwards. It did not take me long to 
 find out that — if not the most approachable of the young 
 men gathered there — he was one of the most gentle and 
 kindly. 
 
 "Though appreciating fun as much as any of them, he 
 did not join in the rough, practical jokes which are always 
 
 147 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 in vogue in such schools, and in which the humorous part 
 always consists in some person's suffering or humiliation. 
 His kindly nature kept him out of such things, but, though 
 disapproving of them, to the knowledge of their perpetrators, 
 he was rarely or never made the victim of such pranks. The 
 good-natured way in which he took a joke at his own ex- 
 pense dissipated all the pleasure of perpetrating it upon him. 
 The boys soon found this out and gave him no further 
 trouble. 
 
 " Except when the societies to which he belonged met, he 
 was almost always in his room evenings. Certain hours were 
 sacredly devoted to study, and as much additional time 
 as the case required. But in fair weather one hour of the 
 day was invariably given to exercise. That was the hour 
 after supper, which he gave to walking. I frequently ac- 
 companied him, and when I could not go he usually went 
 alone. Few cared to cover ground so rapidly as he usually 
 did. 
 
 "He was a steady attendant at society meetings, debates 
 and literary exercises, in which he took an active part. 
 Even in the societies to which he did not belong it was 
 generally understood that he was, without any pretensions to 
 oratory, a skilful debater. So far as I know, he was without 
 an enemy. But, though on friendly terms with everybody in 
 the college he had few intimates." 
 
 All his life he was kind and friendly to all, but he 
 "had few intimates." In 1875 he wrote to General 
 Barnes, in reply to a letter of the latter, after the death 
 of Dr. Steele's father : 
 
 "Your words of sympathy, affection, and remembrance 
 are appreciated with all my heart. You know I do not wear 
 my heart upon my sleeve, and that when I use the word 
 it has a meaning. You are my only friend in that fuller 
 sense of confidence and repose. As you say — in such friend- 
 ship words are not essential." 
 
 14S 
 
As Others Saw Him 
 
 To the friendship of these two, Dr. Steele brought an 
 unrestrained participation in its phases, and a freedom 
 of confidence most unusual to him. Could their delight- 
 ful and voluminous interchange of letters be allowed to 
 enrich this narrative, it would show a rare, remarkable, 
 and fortunate attachment. Dr. Steele, to whom many 
 hearts turned without disappointment, found in the 
 friend of his foremost choice a sane comprehension of 
 conditions ; a clever sense of values ; intellectual 
 acumen; commercial sagacity; dexterity in complica- 
 tions ; coolness in crises ; and — over, through, and above 
 all — an open-hearted, sympathetic and chivalrous affec- 
 tion. The fidelity of the friend and publisher never 
 wavered before nor after the day, when he stood, a 
 sincere mourner, at the open grave of his friend, the 
 author. 
 
 The last winter of Dr. Steele's Hfe, spent in Florida, 
 included a few weeks in Jacksonville, at "The New 
 Everett," kept by a young hotelman, to whom, after his 
 return, Dr. Steele wrote a letter of thanks for courtesy 
 shown to himself and wife. He received the following 
 in reply : 
 
 " Only a real good and good-hearted gentleman will take 
 the time and trouble in this busy, rushing world, to sprinkle 
 words of congratulation and encouragement in the path of 
 the young aspirant to success in his particular calling. 
 
 " Your time and words were not thrown away. You made 
 others happier and more hopeful, and this knowledge repays 
 a man like you more than bricks of gold." 
 
 The spontaneous tributes of many of widely differing 
 interests have been given, to show what others saw in 
 him of whom this book is a meager memorial. Perhaps 
 i.|9 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 not all the lovely flowers of fragrant speech could perfect 
 the cluster without this last honest, hearty offering, bear- 
 ing the perfume of grateful good-will. They came from 
 one whose earnest civility of attention had gone beyond 
 the mere service of the paid host, and risen to the plane 
 of generous impulse. They brought to the recipient, 
 upon whom the chills of death were already creeping, a 
 pleasant warmth — a final breath of that last Southern 
 winter. Only a man who knew his kinship to every 
 other man, and intuitively acted upon it, could have 
 inspired them. 
 
 150 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE TALENT FOR INDUSTRY 
 
 THE so-called favors of fortune never made any 
 man great. People are born to greatness only 
 so far as they are gifted with the possibilities of achieve- 
 ment, and when any study is made of a story of accom- 
 plishment it is usually found that the victor has won 
 exactly where many others have wrought indifferently 
 or failed utterly. And he has won through the courage 
 of conviction, the courage of action, the courage of 
 persistence, and the courage of endurance. Those who 
 cry down his phenomenal success, by intimating that 
 it has come mainly through the lucky accident of fav- 
 orable opportunity, are moved by an inconsequent 
 judgment. 
 
 Throughout his life, wherever Joel Dorman Steele 
 stood in any capacity, others stood beside him with 
 equal choice of privilege, or had gone before with equal 
 sanction and support. If any young man would learn 
 the secret of his success let him study the lesson of his 
 application and continuity. 
 
 In 1 86 1 the young principal of Mexico Academy, dis- 
 satisfied with his equipment as a teacher of Latin and 
 Greek, returned to Genesee College for a short review 
 and some advanced instruction. In the evening after 
 his first lesson from Professor Bragdon he wrote Mrs. 
 Steele : 
 
 151 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 March 12: "I am satisfied I have been giving good in- 
 struction in scanning. Though needing some pohshing, my 
 system is right. Professor Bragdon says my plan is just 
 the thing for college preparation. I need a good deal 
 of smoothing off and have made some mistakes in pronun- 
 ciation. They were but few though — in which I find 
 consolation. 
 
 " But I find a new pronunciation in Latin obtains which 
 is becoming very popular. Professor Bragdon has adopted 
 it, also Brown, Rochester, and other universities. It is not 
 difficult, yet will require hard work for a few days. I shall 
 take it because my boys who are going to Rochester must 
 have it. It seems odd, yet I am satisfied of its propriety and 
 am delighted with it. 
 
 " I am doubtful about coming back as soon as I expected 
 since I find so much to do. Do not look for me very strongly 
 as I must not come until this pronunciation is perfect. I am 
 so nervous about these studies that I cannot write very well. 
 So excuse my mistakes." 
 
 The means and time of this young man, eager to fit 
 himself for better school work, were so limited that he 
 gave eighteen hours a day to his tasks. Yet, having just 
 gained fresh enthusiasm and ability in teaching, he left all 
 his new plans and hopes for camp and battle, carrying an 
 equal lavishment of energy to their strange experiences. 
 
 " We are now handling the shovel and the hoe with great 
 precision and skill. If tedious employment it is at least 
 perfectly safe, and if not glorious work it is very useful. I 
 often feel sundry twinges and twaitgs to remind me of my 
 physical inefficiency." 
 
 Thus to every task appointed he addressed himself 
 with the same spirit, and a remarkable story of indomit- 
 able industry runs side by side with a record of resolute 
 resistance to the encroachments of progressing infirmities. 
 152 
 
The Talent for Industry 
 
 He was never strong. " A dozen years before his 
 death," said " The Academy " in June, 1886, " he broke 
 down from overwork. But he husbanded his strength 
 and still worked, constantly and systematically." 
 
 To his wife : 
 
 Elmira, Jan. 6, 1S67: "The last few days I have had 
 some tokens of rheumatism, in a new place — the feet. I 
 did not understand it. For two days I walked with great 
 difficulty. Yesterday morning when I awoke, my ankle was 
 stiff. Then I recognized the ' critter ' as my old friend and 
 standby. In the night my trouble took the form of head- 
 ache — same thing in another guise. 
 
 " Regular school duties commence to-morrow and my 
 time will be fuller than usual, for I add Greek to my work. 
 This morning I led my Sunday-school teachers' class. Then 
 I preached for Brother Van Benschoten. Was just com- 
 fortably satisfied with myself — nothing more. After lunch- 
 eon 1 further prepared my Sunday-school lesson, went to 
 Sunday-school and had a capital time. Our lesson was first 
 chapter of St. John, first seven verses. Read those verses 
 and then imagine how a little child could be interested — 
 and a big one too ! 
 
 " One little boy on the front seat forgot what he was 
 about, rose and came forward half way to me on the floor, 
 standing until we finished. I was deeply astonished. It 
 was a season of especial interest. But I am very tired to- 
 night; if you were here I would remain home from church. 
 But it would be too lonely without you." 
 
 Sept. 6, 1868 : " We have numbered and catalogued the 
 books, and the library is ready for use. It was a great task. 
 Next week I must catalogue the apparatus and commence 
 the State report. Another month's work — but I am good 
 for it, I trust ! " 
 
 Later — 1868: "The last of my proofs came yesterday 
 with the index. I compared every figure and subject with 
 the proof of the body of the work, to see if the paging was 
 right. Oh, how my arm ached with turning the leaves ! 
 
 153 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Frankie K and Nellie S then kindly looked through 
 
 the whole book to find certain words I wanted to omit. 
 Afterward I looked alone through the book line by line. 
 I did not clear the proof from my desk until eleven at 
 night. I was extremely tired. But now that the ' Natural 
 Philosophy ' is off my hands I feel happy and gloriously 
 free ! " 
 
 New York, Feb. 17, 1870: "All tell me I must not work 
 too hard. They, however, expect the ' Geology ' this sum- 
 mer, for which advance orders for one thousand copies are 
 already received." 
 
 In the summer of 1 871, he greatly felt the strain of 
 his labors. August 16, General Barnes wrote : 
 
 " I am greatly pained and troubled to notice by your 
 Dubuque letter how feeble you are. Oh, Professor, that 
 won't do ! Pray go to some quiet place and play and fish 
 and stop thinking." 
 
 In January, 1872, Mr. A. S. Barnes, then in Florence, 
 Italy, wrote to his son : 
 
 " I am sorry to hear that Professor Steele is ill. You 
 must constrain him to drop his pen, or bring it and his wife 
 to Europe, settle down in some quiet place and complete his 
 ' Physiology.' One year in Europe will make him and his 
 books much stronger than if he continues to write, half sick 
 in America. This, I am persuaded, is good advice, and if 
 followed will give him a longer life and make him more use- 
 ful to his fellowmen." 
 
 When the above was received Dr. Steele was already 
 abroad. He was again much debilitated when he em- 
 barked for his second tour. He wrote General Barnes 
 — himself in Europe — from Watertown, May, 5, 1873 : 
 
 " One thing which still more inclines me to go to Europe 
 is this fact — I have had three of my brain attacks this 
 154 
 
The Talent for Industry 
 
 spring, already. And I remember the recruiting I did 
 abroad last summer; the strength I gained has carried me 
 through all the work of the last ten months. I must learn 
 to use my strength more sparingly — when I have any on 
 hand. But the lesson is very hard ! " 
 
 June 28, 1873, London: "I do not feel quite like work. 
 The brain attacks I had just before coming leave me weak 
 
 — in the upper story. Yet I seem to myself to improve and 
 hope to be soon at my labors." 
 
 The attacks referred to were congestive and in the 
 form of headaches of a most violent character. 
 
 July 10, 1873, London: " Thank you for your hearty invi- 
 tation to join yourself and Mrs. Barnes. We want to accept, 
 but do not feel quite easy in our minds when we think of 
 sacrificing work to fun. . . . The year's labor has been 
 one of the hardest, if not the hardest of all my service. 
 The revision of the ' Chemistry,' the preparation of the 
 Key, and the proof-reading — that drudgery of drudgeries — 
 of the two books, besides all the regular manuscript work, 
 made a total of annoying, vexatious, and exhausting effort, 
 beyond anything I ever had before. 
 
 " I was constantly urged to get out each one of the books 
 at the earliest possible moment, for this, that, or the other 
 reason. . . . Aside from these things I do my best work 
 when I work many hours a day. My brain turns out its 
 best product only when driven at high pressure, day after 
 day. If I take things easy my sentences are dull, heavy, 
 and cumbrous. Only when my whole nervous system is on 
 fire do my sentences sparkle and my style become lively and 
 entertaining. Every paragraph, therefore, worth keeping or 
 that at all satisfies me, takes just so much of my life force, 
 and exhausts me to that extent. A good sentence consumes 
 something which meat and drink do not promptly supply. 
 It represents nervous energy and everything that goes into 
 my books comes out of me. 
 
 " After I have written a fine description — that is, for me 
 
 — I feel a sense of loss which never accompanies such writ- 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 ing as letters and the like, which produce merely physical 
 fatigue. Then there is a vast amount of study in connec- 
 tion with my book work. Perfection comes from labor, and 
 I expend much time on my books. But I never grudge any 
 pains or time given to revising, polishing, or verifying. It 
 may sometimes seem of little account, yet it goes to make up 
 the value of my books. Certainly now I dare not be care- 
 less. Critics watch for every new attempt, thinking now 
 they will catch me nodding. It is impossible, they say, for 
 a man to write such a variety of books and be good at each. 
 
 "So it comes constantly to my mind that I must care 
 always for the larger things of accuracy as well as for the 
 points of style, perspicuity, selection of words, and so on, — 
 that I must not slacken, lest I fall. 
 
 " This brings me back to my statement that this year 
 has been terribly exhausting, with its burden of sorrow, ex- 
 traordinary business cares and correspondence, its two 
 books, the key, and all the rest. Am I not right in saying 
 that each book must be harder than the preceding one ? I 
 thank you for your words of warning — I do not wish to 
 waste labor ; neither do I want any book of mine to fall 
 still-born from your press." 
 
 Jan. 21, 1874, Stuttgart: " I have been going through the 
 slough of despond in my ' German History,' but this week 
 have come to hard ground, I hope. I have finished the in- 
 troduction and got Charlemagne in sight. He already 
 assumes fair proportions and I think I shall trot him on to 
 the stage so as to show him properly. German history is 
 wonderfully complex. Church history covers a large part 
 of it and makes it confusing and difficult to treat." 
 
 Elmira, May 24, 1875: "I still live, though I have 
 recovered from my illness slowly. I find myself head 
 over heels in work." 
 
 July 4, 1876 : "I have written quietly and steadily all 
 day on the Exposition, which is my task now, and a big 
 one at that. I feel very uncomfortable and dissatisfied 
 156 
 
The Talent for Industry 
 
 as to my progress and success." This last was to Mrs. 
 Steele, to whom again he wrote December 26, 1876 : 
 
 " By some means a form was put to press without waiting 
 for my final corrections ... In looking carelessly over 
 the pages, I detected, on page 29, a grammatical blunder. 
 Was it not too bad ? Of course I fumed and fretted and 
 sputtered and hurried oH messages to New York to change 
 the plates at once. Then I went through the whole book, 
 examining the agreement of every verb. It took two days 
 but I found no other error." 
 
 In 1879 Dr. Seaming of New York city made a care- 
 ful examination of Dr. Steele's physical condition. He 
 wrote Dr. William Wey, an eminent Elmira physician, 
 who had introduced the patient to him, stating that 
 he found no organic disease of heart or pleurae. His 
 malady was pronounced . an exhausted and perverted 
 nervous function of the organic nervous system, and 
 certain derangements were declared to be the results 
 and evidence of this. A lengthened period of hygienic 
 and other treatment, with freedom from exhausting 
 labor — outdoor life and pleasant occupation, were sure, 
 the doctor thought, to restore him to comfortable life 
 and usefulness. Dr. Seaming said that, at one time, he 
 was himself in much the same condition — all from over- 
 work — but that proper diet and hygienic treatment re- 
 stored him. 
 
 Whatever encouragement Dr. Steele could gather from 
 this he took, and went on his way with patient and fear- 
 less front. But he was not idle. He tried to lessen 
 the strain, but natural diligence, intensified by habit and 
 public demand, made complete rest a seeming impossi- 
 bility. During the next half-dozen years the duties of 
 life went busily on. He was better, he was worse, he 
 157 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 loved and enjoyed the world — he wrought for it with 
 heroism. 
 
 Jan. 28, 1880, St. Augustine, Florida: "The pleasant 
 sunshine and quiet comforts of this delightful place already 
 make us happy in the prospect of recovering energy. I 
 have n't in years so much felt the need of rest — say since 
 I went abroad first in 1871. And I am in just the mood to 
 enjoy the repose I feel I have earned by many years of hard 
 work." 
 
 That season in Florida was a most interesting one and 
 the letters he wrote were full of event. 
 
 March i : " General Loring, a Confederate officer, is here. 
 I have had many conversations with him. After the war he 
 went to Egypt and commanded the Khedive's forces. He 
 was received with great eclat on his return a month since. 
 All eastern Florida turned out to do him honor. 
 
 ♦' The old Confederate soldiers were in their glory and 
 the Marshal of the day was once an officer under Semmes. 
 Yet nowhere did there appear a Confederate symbol of any 
 kind. The monument in the Plaza in honor of the Confed- 
 erate soldiers from St. Augustine, killed in battle, was 
 decorated, but the speakers made no allusion to the Lost 
 Cause. A party of serenaders, late at night, played ' Dixie,' 
 but that was a pardonable display of sentiment. Strangely, 
 too, the mottoes spoke of the General's exploits in Mexico 
 and Egypt, but were silent on the subject of the Civil War. 
 The General is equally reticent, and when the other day 
 there was reference made to it by some gentlemen, he in- 
 continently disappeared. It shows the good sense of the 
 people, does it not ? " 
 
 " On every side I see hearty acquiescence in the results of 
 the war and an agreement that the abolition of slavery has 
 been an advantage to the whites. But when it comes to the 
 question of the negro's future, their views are not like those 
 of the North. Souls rally slowly from inherited instincts. 
 
The Talent for Industry 
 
 Slavery was destroyed by a stroke of Lincoln's pen, but it 
 will be generations before its effects on black and white will 
 be obliterated." 
 
 It was of St. Augustine that Miss Quirin wrote : 
 
 " Once as my mother and I were driving on the Shell 
 road, our horse, maddened by the buzzing, stinging gnats, 
 started to run away, and my mother, who was driving, be- 
 came frightened and unable to hold him. Dr. and Mrs. 
 Steele were taking a walk outside the gates that afternoon, 
 and seeing our distress Dr. Steele came out into the road, 
 seized the bridle and, after a short struggle, stopped the 
 horse, patting and quieting him. The sudden and violent 
 effort was too much for him, however, and his kindness 
 caused him some minutes of acute suffering from palpitation 
 
 — of which we grieved to be the cause. But his generosity 
 made him always forgetful of self." 
 
 Thoughtful and unselfish courtesy, and its equivalent 
 
 — an avoidance of what might discommode another — 
 were indeed characteristic of the man : 
 
 " I try not to disturb any one," he wrote Mrs. Steele once, 
 from a temporary boarding-place. "I go to my meals 
 promptly and never sit down after eating. I think that will 
 make the family least trouble." 
 
 After 1880, the indications of Dr. Steele's progressing 
 debility multiplied, but his diligence knew no abatement. 
 
 St. Augustine, Jan. 21, 1881 : "In coming south the ex- 
 posures and sudden changes prostrated me entirely. I was 
 sick a week at Washington and two weeks at Atlanta. In 
 the latter place I got so weak and suffered so much pain 
 that my physician said I must leave for Florida and milder 
 weather at once. I have improved every day since I came 
 and though they actually had to lift me on the cars when 
 they sent me on my way I can to-day get up and down 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 stairs without help, by using my cane. I dislike to trouble 
 others with my aches and pains and mention my illness 
 only to account for my long silence." 
 
 Elmira, Aug. 15, 1881 : "The 'Ancient History' moves 
 along still, like the brook that goes on forever. I am 
 gaining steadily. But I shall have to stop soon and devote 
 myself to my ' Astronomy ' revision — quite a year's labor. 
 It is a long look-out, but just what I gave to the ' Chemis- 
 try ' and the new 'Physics.' Now the 'Astronomy' de- 
 mands it in turn." 
 
 Elmira, Jan. 13, 1883: "The Doctor has been urging me 
 to go away to recuperate. I am glad I shall not have to 
 write another book like the ' General History ' — especially 
 the 'Modern Peoples.' I think I told you that cost me 
 more work than any other book I ever attempted. I have 
 spent six months in sandpapering the manuscript." 
 
 One week afterward, General Barnes wrote Dr. Steele, 
 who had gone to New Orleans : 
 
 *" I can plainly see that you lay down your pen this time 
 with great weariness. Poor fellow ! Your conscientious- 
 ness evidently increases with experience, and it occurs to me 
 that perhaps you do your books too well. I do not believe 
 that there is a text-book maker living who digs out for him- 
 self so much and appropriates so little from others." 
 
 Elmira, Oct. 4, 1883. To General Barnes: "The 'An- 
 cient Peoples' was begun in 1877 — September. So that 
 History series — 'Ancient,' ' Mediicval,' 'Modern,' and 
 'General' — has cost me six years. How little I dreamed 
 that I was undertaking such a task — tlie most difficult of 
 my whole life ! How often I have been tempted to give up 
 in despair at the amount of reading and study required in 
 the labor of investigation ! " 
 
 Oct. 15, 1883 : " I am really recovering at last, slowly and 
 
 steadily, but I hope surely. My brain rallies reluctantly, 
 
 but even that shows tone, and this week for the first time I 
 
 have thought that nature may have strength enough to put 
 
 160 
 
The Talent for Industry 
 
 me back where I was — only give her time for the beneficent 
 work." 
 
 St. Aygustine, February, 1884 : " In spite of rain and 
 wind I have been able to get my constitutional every day. 
 How I have enjoyed the long walks, even during the North- 
 ers, while every little while comes a perfect day out of the 
 gates of paradise, when just to bask in the sun and drink in 
 the delicious sea-breeze is a delight. The flood of sunshine 
 pours in through our five windows and glorifies the room." 
 
 Saratoga, June 26, 1884. To Mrs. Steele: "The water 
 as usual, affects me favorably. Last night I had the first 
 good rest for a week. You know I had begun to toss about 
 at night before leaving home, on account of my hard work. 
 I am so glad you open and answer all my letters. I do not 
 feel equal, just now, to the labor of writing, except on the 
 work I must do and for which I came." 
 
 The work referred to was his paper prepared for the 
 Centennial of the University of Regents for the State of 
 New York, before which it was read — his last pubUc 
 work of this sort. 
 
 From General Barnes, July 31, 1884 '• " I tremble for you 
 under this high pressure, regretting very much that it seems 
 to be necessary at this time. In your place I think I should 
 have let the ' Astronomy ' sail through the heavens for another 
 cycle, and take its chances. However, you would, and so 
 you would / I am afraid you are a little obstinate. I am 
 wretchedly uneasy." 
 
 In the winter of 1885 Dr. Steele wrote General 
 Barnes : 
 
 " I have felt for some time that I have been running on 
 the ties." And to Mrs. Steele later : " I get a little blue 
 sometimes at the prospect of weak eyes the rest of my life. 
 If I can only get my 'Chemistry' and 'Physics' revised 
 before they fail entirely ! " 
 
 II 161 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 His eyes gave out while he was revising United States 
 History and gave him much trouble thenceforward. Yet 
 he worked on with varying condition of health and hope 
 but no deviation from his thorough-going habits. 
 
 Who can estimate the weariness of application, de- 
 manded by ceaseless vigilance in composition and con- 
 stant revisions, prompted by a spirit restless in view of 
 possible error? Take his "Physiology," for example, in 
 which he competed with physicians trained to their 
 work by a lifetime of experience. Though unused in 
 his course for the student, he felt the need of investiga- 
 tion that would fill him with the spirit and language of 
 the schools, so that nothing written should offend the 
 prejudice or cultured instincts of medical men. In this 
 he was eminently successful. 
 
 The same is true of the new nomenclature of the re- 
 vised "Chemistry." He had to master the system and 
 then simplify it so as to adapt it to beginners. Of these 
 things he once said : " The days of reading, trial, and 
 study — the attempts and the dissatisfactions — none of 
 these appear in manuscript or book." 
 
 Little can the average reader know by what cost of 
 toiling the bulky paragraphs were condensed into a few 
 sentences ; how often chapters were thrown away, or re- 
 written so many times that the original was forgotten ; 
 how much fine work produced at high pressure was sac- 
 rificed for the sake of brevity ; what bondage of purely 
 manual labor was represented in the pages that passed 
 under his hand. 
 
 Dr. Steele's remarkable fortitude is well illustrated by 
 
 an incident which occurred in 1858 during his first 
 
 year's teaching in Mexico Academy. While conducting 
 
 an experiment in chemistry a piece of phosphorus was 
 
 162 
 
The Talent for Industry 
 
 dropped on the back of his hand by a careless student. 
 Instantly it burst into flame, burning to the bone and 
 making an ugly wound. He carried his hand in a sling 
 for weeks. Speaking of this after his death, Dean 
 French, in whose family the young teacher boarded, 
 said : 
 
 " I used to wonder how he could endure without flinching 
 the daily dressing of that hand. Though his face betrayed 
 the intensity of the pain he endured, he never withdrew his 
 hand from the operator, nor ceased to be cheerful, indulging 
 in humorous remarks during the process." 
 
 This youthful, unflinching courage foretold the un- 
 yielding pluck of the marching soldier ; the valor of the 
 wounded captain leading on his men ; and the resolu- 
 tion of the worker, who in spite of racking pains could 
 patiently advance the duty in hand while undergoing 
 harassment of mind and body, afterward taking pleasure 
 in a little respite, with thankfulness and cheer. 
 
 Doubtless many an ambitious beginner, mindful of the 
 temporal rewards that came to Dr. Steele, may have felt 
 an impulse to compete for like prizes. Let any such 
 mark well the weariness of the race and only with brave 
 humility dare to set foot upon the track. 
 
 163 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 life's immortal beauty 
 
 AFTER the news of the death of Dr. Steele had been 
 telegraphed over the country, Rev. Dr. Charles 
 W. Bennett — himself an erudite scholar, teacher, 
 preacher, and author of distinction — wrote to the 
 Northern Christian Advocate, of Syracuse, these mourn- 
 ful, commenting queries : " Why do such men die so 
 young? Is there not a suicidal phase to these young 
 deaths? Why cannot men work on until they are seventy- 
 five ? Please answer this in your next leader. There is a 
 moral side to this question that it will do to enforce." 
 
 Rev. Dr. O. H. Warren, at that time the able editor 
 of the Advocate, made a just and comprehensive reply, in 
 which he said': 
 
 " Within various limitations the conservation of life is 
 possible to every man, and amid all differences of opinion 
 concerning the sudden breaking and premature death of so 
 many hard-working men there is agreement in the judgment 
 that it is largely due to overwork and an incessant and too 
 tense strain on the nervous system. . . . Ought a man to take 
 upon himself a greater burden than he can reasonably hope 
 to carry from year to year, without injury to his health, until 
 age shall diminish his strength ? This is a question of 
 duty. . . . 
 
 " But duty, indicated by providential leadings, or by those 
 demands which are met in the prosecution of one's mission, 
 is love's justification of self-sacrifice, or the imperilling or 
 
 164 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 laying down of one's life. And duty, it should be remem- 
 bered, often takes life by instalments, and it is sometimes 
 difficult to tell where its fatal draft is made. 
 
 "Take for instance the life of the lamented Steele. He 
 was a man who conscientiously guarded his health ; but 
 there was a moment in his life when he heard the call of his 
 country and answered it as a patriot. Hardship, privation, 
 exposure, wounds, taxed heavily a slender constitution. Duty 
 made a heavy draft in those years and in the balancing of 
 the account it was found that his days were shortened. 
 
 " There are thousands of emergencies less conspicuous than 
 war with which men are connected in their peaceful pursuits, 
 by necessities and demands which they may interpret as the 
 call of Providence. They find themselves in positions from 
 which they cannot escape without peril to great interests, 
 and they bear many burdens which they cannot throw down 
 without disaster to those they serve ; but they stand firm 
 and true, though duty takes an instalment of life as the price 
 of fidelity and success. The mother gives service to her 
 child, the father to his family, the patriot to his country, the 
 Christian to his Master, subject to these instalments — yea, 
 to the full draft of duty on life, if need be — leaving the re- 
 sult with the Father in Heaven." 
 
 More discerning words could hardly be written in 
 view of the life and death of him whose loss inspired 
 them, and they are introduced at this time as luminous 
 comment on the story of one whose sense of religious 
 duty included the consideration and understanding of 
 his bodily needs, yet pressed him forward, in spite of 
 them, to meet the obligations of higher demands. 
 
 Dr. Steele had returned from a Florida winter in April, 
 1886, meditating fresh undertakings, yet aware of possible 
 and final interruption. On May 25 th he was looking, 
 and apparently feeling, especially well. Among many 
 calls of that afternoon was one from a young matron and 
 
 165 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 familiar neighbor who came to show him a rare flower. 
 He was interested, and produced its counterpart in his 
 own herbarium, pressed twenty-five years before. He 
 had, indeed, both in Mexico and Newark, gathered, 
 classified, pressed, and preserved many flowers, and his 
 letters of those years contained numerous accounts of 
 happy hours spent in the woods, with botanical descrip- 
 tions of their floral trophies. 
 
 The temperature had suddenly fallen that afternoon 
 and Dr. Steele had omitted his usual drive. At about 
 half past five he donned his overcoat and walked half an 
 hour in his garden and through the paths on the lawn. 
 Already the plans for his annual seed-planting were in 
 part perfected. On returning to the house he was 
 joined by Mrs. Steele, prepared for dinner. He, how- 
 ever, complained of chilliness and aching bones, feared 
 he had taken cold, suggested a hot foot-bath and said 
 he would not dine. 
 
 Mrs. Steele at once poured and brought him a cup of 
 hot cocoa and wished to assist in the details of the bath. 
 To this last service he would not consent, begging her 
 to ring the bell for the servants, but before they could 
 arrive he stood upon his feet, evidently to relieve a pain 
 about his heart. His son, Allen, hastened for a physi- 
 cian, while the beloved niece, Nellie, aided in support- 
 ing him. Directly, however, he began to sink, his arm 
 about his wife's neck, his head upon her shoulder. By 
 the time he had reached his chair, all was over. It had 
 been just forty minutes since he entered the house from 
 the garden, and the plate that had been laid for him at 
 the table was not yet removed. 
 
 Dr. Wey, hurriedly summoned, came at once. But 
 his skill was no longer needed for the master of the house. 
 
 i66 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 Neighbors and friends, called in haste, were seeking to 
 sustain and minister to the appalled family group, and 
 especially to the stricken and distracted widow. Before 
 them, lying on a couch where it had been placed, was 
 the form of the beloved dead. The gentle heart had 
 forgotten its sharp, swift and final pang ; the tired brain 
 had ceased its busy thought ; all the tasks of the willing 
 hands were done ; and on the pale and quiet features 
 lay a suggestion of that Heaven toward which the face 
 had steadfastly turned throughout a trustful, obedient, 
 and benignant life. 
 
 So long as those live who can recall it, there will re- 
 main in Elmira a keen memory of the sorrow felt 
 throughout the city. Words of admiration, affection, 
 and regret from hundreds eminent throughout the 
 nation ; sincere tributes of educational, religious and 
 secular publications ; all these showed the place he had 
 gained in men's minds and the deference with which he 
 was regarded ; but the hearts of his townspeople by the 
 pain of personal grief, testified most fully to his recog- 
 nized worth and their consequent loss. 
 
 Funeral services were held on Friday, the 28th, 
 at two o'clock. They were attended by a representa- 
 tive body of scholars and clergymen and by many 
 friends and citizens. The ceremonies were of a simplic- 
 ity in keeping with the character of the man. The body 
 was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery, a beautiful God's- 
 acre, and here, from sunrise to sunrise, so much of light 
 as Heaven gives shines upon his grave. 
 
 On the Sunday following, a memorial service was held 
 in the Hedding Methodist Episcopal Church, Chancel- 
 lor Sims delivering a tender and impressive address, 
 helpful, hopeful, and thoroughly mindful of the lessons 
 
 167 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 and ministry of the life that had so suddenly passed 
 away. Dr. Noah Clarke on the educational work, and 
 Dr. E. M. Mills on the spiritual life of Dr. Steele, fol- 
 lowed. A large concourse of people listened sympathet- 
 ically and sadly. One of the number, when all was over, 
 said to another with feeling : " It seems a strange wisdom 
 that removes a man like Dr. Steele, cutting short his 
 work and usefulness." It was a saying that expressed 
 the thought of many a heart, burdened with grief in spite 
 of Christian faith. 
 
 But Dr. Steele well knew in his last years that the 
 shadows slanted backward as he looked toward the west, 
 and his house was set in order for the sunset. And ac- 
 cording to his nature the preparation had in view the 
 perpetual influences of church and school. 
 
 Throughout his professional life he had never taught 
 an intellectual truth without a thought of God. On the 
 fine New England granite which marks his resting- 
 place are these words, graven at the direction of Mrs. 
 Steele : " His true monument stands in the hearts of 
 thousands of American youth, led by him to 'look through 
 Nature up to Nature's God.'" 
 
 Henry White Callahan, Principal of Kingston Academy, 
 N. Y., in speaking of this influence, declared : 
 
 " No man of our generation has done so great a work 
 for the cause of secondary education. Through every book 
 he ever wrote breathes the spirit of religion, pure and unde- 
 filed — a strong defence at the outset against the agnostic 
 tendencies of modern science." 
 
 Of his capacity as an inspirer of faith, Mrs. Juliet 
 Packer Hill, already quoted, remarks : 
 
 " He was singularly happy in his power of expression, in 
 a talent for conveying to otliers what he himself felt at the 
 
 i6S 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 moment. Here the pure altruism of the man, as a teacher, 
 found its vent, and every one who came under his influence 
 unconsciously sought after truer and better standards. The 
 old tests and measures grew meager in the light of the ever 
 advancing march of science as revealed to him. And his 
 was a prophet's vision indeed ! The doctrine of evolution, 
 when in its infancy, found in his mind a hospitable shelter, 
 and as clothed upon by him became reconcilable with the 
 great truths of religion." 
 
 In harmony with his past and his profound desire 
 toward the future he sought to insure somewhere a per- 
 manent science instruction that should recognize God as 
 an intelligent Creator. Of this he had talked with Mrs. 
 Steele as early as 1880 and they were agreed. The re- 
 sult of his resolutions appeared when his will was opened, 
 and it was found that he had bequeathed fifty thousand 
 dollars to Syracuse University to found a chair of Theistic 
 Science. 
 
 Thus he asserted after death, as he asserted in life, 
 the presence of a God in the Universe, thus he pro- 
 tested after death, as he protested in life, against a cold, 
 irreverent learning that knows Him not. 
 
 " Your ministers," said Dr. Steele in an article on the 
 study of Natural Science, " open the Bible and expound to 
 you its contents. In my laboratory I open another volume, 
 written by the same Being, and my students, day after day, 
 read its pages and see with certainty and joy His footprints 
 gleaming on the sands of time." 
 
 " There are mysteries in religion and there are mysteries 
 in science," said he in a public talk on one occasion, " and 
 the exponents of both have made their mistakes. But let us 
 pray most earnestly that during this transitional stage of 
 thought — while we are in the din and heat of controversy — 
 we may learn to labor and to wait, that our faith may not be 
 
 169 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 shaken ; that earnest scholars may not be driven out of the 
 church by blind fanaticism ; that scientist and religionist, 
 both equally sincere, both seeking new truths though in dif- 
 ferent spheres, and all hoping to discover the eternal verities, 
 may clasp hands and find the grand, central thought of all 
 life and all time in the gospel of Christ. So may each see 
 the same truth growing brighter and clearer with every dis- 
 covery of science, every experience of religion, — a mighty, 
 pivotal fact on which shall swing the destinies of time and 
 eternity." 
 
 Syracuse University, as the development of Genesee 
 College, was the alma mater of Dr. Steele. From 1870, 
 the year of its transference, to the time of his death, he 
 was one of the trustees, and as such annually aided in 
 making up its deficiencies, usually giving five hundred 
 dollars, a large sum in the first years of his success. To 
 the University, from some of his first royalties, he gave 
 valuable geological restorations, and to it, for science 
 and religion, he left his largest gift — " out of the fortune 
 of a man who was generous enough and broad enough to 
 measure his hard-earned money against what he honestly 
 believed to be the claims of learning upon him." 
 
 On May 26, the day between the death and burial of Dr. 
 Steele, the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Elmira, 
 of which he was a member, burned to the ground. Its 
 pastor. Rev. Dr. E. M. Mills, cancelling an out-of-town 
 engagement telegraphed a church official : " My church 
 is in ashes and my dearest friend lies unburied." The 
 pathetic eloquence of these words well expresses the 
 consternation and depression of the entire congregation. 
 
 But the open hand of him who had brought his gift 
 
 in other crises had written a thing the people knew not 
 
 of. A legacy of eight thousand dollars was devised to 
 
 the church. " It would almost seem," commented an 
 
 170 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 Elmira paper, " as if he saw the disaster to come and 
 made provision for it. It is Uke a gift from Heaven." 
 
 The will of Dr. Steele when opened was found to con- 
 tain a letter to his wife, written six months before. The 
 letter, which is a long one, speaks of his desires and 
 hopes in reference to the disposal of his property and 
 tells why his various decisions were made. Its final page 
 is in part quoted : 
 
 " Now in conclusion I would say, if I could, how my 
 heart turns back to-day, and rejoices in the long, happy years 
 we have spent together. How faithful you have been to me, 
 sharing in every labor, and aiding me to accomplish, by your 
 unstinted help and favor, what other wise I could never have 
 accomplished : and how glad I am that these later years of 
 your life have been and will be restful and abundant. ... I 
 have poured out my thoughts here fully and do not even re- 
 read these final words of love and remembrance. Good Bye, 
 and Good Bye." 
 
 The letter contained one sentence, in reference to 
 the chair of Theistic Science, which had been carefully 
 obliterated with pen and ink. This sentence, after long 
 study and many devices, Mrs. Steele at last deciphered. 
 It suggested that the possible increase of copyright 
 royalties might soon enable her to make the University 
 bequest effective. Evidently on second thought he 
 sought to efface this, lest his wife, in her ardent desire 
 to fulfil his every wish, should carry out his suggestion 
 without considering her convenience. 
 
 The money left to the University was subject to three 
 annuities. Mrs. Steele at once renounced her own and 
 assumed the payment of the two others. By this gener- 
 ous act she insured the speedy establishment of the pro- 
 fessorship for which her husband had made ultimate 
 
 171 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 provision, and she has since annually provided for all 
 its current expenses. 
 
 As Physics was Dr. Steele's favorite science, it was 
 chosen as the basis of the professorship. But the Physi- 
 cal apparatus of the young University was exceedingly 
 meager, and the eminent scientist who was called to the 
 chair was discouraged by the prospect. Again the faith- 
 ful wife rose to the emergency, and to the thousands of 
 dollars she contributed were added other thousands by 
 the appreciative trustees, so that, now, in the handsome 
 limestone building which represents the Steele professor- 
 ship on the University campus, there is an exceptional 
 array of rare instruments and as fine electric appliances 
 as can be found in any college in the land. 
 
 In the matter of the church, as in the matter of the 
 university, the wife exceeded the measure of her hus- 
 band's will. In the new building which rose upon the 
 ashes of the old, she placed a large memorial window 
 designed by herself and executed by Donald MacDonald 
 of Boston. The upper half consists of four illustrative 
 panels. In the first his early piety is represented by a 
 figure of Samuel at prayer ; it bears the legend : " Speak, 
 Lord, for Thy servant heareth." The second depicts the 
 soldier, — David with his sling : " Thy servant will go 
 and fight." The third is the teacher, — a guiding angel : 
 " I will speak of thy wondrous works." The fourth is 
 the author — St. John : "And he said unto me. Write." 
 In the ornamental arch over the panels are the words : 
 " God that made the world and all things therein, Him 
 declare I unto you." The lower half of the window is a 
 copy of Raphael's cartoon of St. Paul preaching at 
 Athens, At the base, below the name and the dates of 
 birth and death, are placed two inscriptions, side by side, 
 172 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 which read, respectively : " To perpetuate the memory 
 of a sincere Christian, a loyal patriot, a generous bene- 
 factor and an earnest teacher," and " This window is 
 here placed by her to whom God granted the supreme 
 joy of best knowing the grace and beauty of his un- 
 sullied life." The exquisite coloring and workmanship 
 of this memorial window are unsurpassed. 
 
 On the opposite side of the pulpit is another beau- 
 tiful stained glass window of equal size, a tribute from 
 some of Dr. Steele's friends and pupils. It represents 
 the parable of " The Faithful Steward," and among other 
 inscriptions bears the texts : " God gave him riches and 
 honor and he was a faithful steward," and " Lord, thou 
 deliveredst unto me five talents ; behold I have gained 
 beside them, five talents more. His Lord said unto 
 him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; thou 
 hast been faithful in a few things, I will make thee 
 ruler over many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord." 
 
 From small to great things in the record of his life 
 the faithfulness of Dr. Steele's stewardship was conspic- 
 uous no less than the increase of his talents — already 
 marked. A letter to Mrs. Steele in 1862 says : 
 
 " I have applied my money to the wants of my soldiers' 
 families. Some of my men have been two months without 
 a cent, and their families are suffering. I have loaned them 
 in all over a hundred dollars." 
 
 This was the frugal, self-denying teacher-soldier, whose 
 salary had never been more than eight hundred a year, 
 and whose livelihood depended on the favor of school 
 boards. 
 
 In 1883 he wrote, in answer to an invitation to join 
 173 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Mr. A. S. Barnes and wife in a trip to cover interesting 
 points both in and out of the United States : 
 
 " For pleasure and physical benefit nothing could please 
 me more. But it involves large expense and I find the 
 increasing demands upon me for generosity, together with 
 my need of books, lectures and travel difficult to check. 
 People have an idea that I am really a rich man — a sort 
 of fourteen-weeks millionaire — and my responses to their 
 appeals seem to them niggardly enough. I have some heavy 
 burdens on me in church and elsewhere, so that my income 
 is nearly half absorbed before I touch it for personal use." 
 
 But with all his liberal impulse it would have been 
 impossible for him to carry to fullest usefulness his plans 
 for others, without the constant and unselfish co-opera- 
 tion of one, who with perfect and remarkable sympathy 
 rose to the level of every intellectual and spiritual aspi- 
 ration. Rare is the compatibility that is preserved 
 through the contrasts of an experience, begun amid the 
 restrictions of narrow means and coming to the expan- 
 sions of large income, with all it implies of increased 
 accountability and social dignity. Dr. Steele, in the 
 spontaneous open-heartedness of habitual giving, as well 
 as in the deliberate proposals of far-reaching bounty, 
 found himself always cordially supported by his wife. 
 Together they talked, in the last years, of some gift of 
 abiding usefulness, and she warmly coincided with his 
 final decision that it should be the founding of the Syra- 
 cuse chair. 
 
 There was, however, another noble-minded desire set 
 aside by this choice, A dear dream he had often dreamed 
 had been that of an ample public library in his home 
 city. He concluded to talk no more of this, however, 
 as an individual undertaking, when he determined on 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 the work that was wider in its scope and influence. 
 Yet he often suggested it to his fellow-citizens as an en- 
 terprise for all. In a letter from the south to the " El- 
 mira Advertiser," he wrote, in 1881 : 
 
 " Atlanta has achieved what we in Elmira have desired 
 for so many years — a public library. Mr. Brown, president 
 of the library association, called upon me and gave me a 
 most interesting history of the enterprise. ... If we could 
 only find Mr. Brown's double — a man who would give 
 himself up, body and soul, to the great enterprise, I believe 
 we might in Elmira establish a grand Public Library that 
 would be the pride of the city." 
 
 After the chair of Theistic Science became a fact, 
 Mrs. Steele, cherishing the memory of her husband's 
 generous instincts, and equally inspired by her own, 
 began to plan new things in loving remembrance. So, 
 in her loyal heart and mind, the library thought grew, 
 and finally became a definite project. It was several 
 years before she felt she might safely begin positive 
 work ; then she set in motion the bewildering detail of 
 professional and industrial stir necessary to the execu- 
 tion of her design. 
 
 The corner-stone of " Steele Memorial Library Build- 
 ing " was laid May 27, 1895, nine years to a day from 
 the date of Dr. Steele's burial. In August, 1899, the 
 library was formally opened to the public, and at once 
 found extraordinary patronage. 
 
 The gift when turned over to the people of the city 
 represented the sum of sixty-five thousand dollars, cu- 
 rios and pictures included. The building itself, which 
 is one of the handsomest edifices in the city, cost over 
 forty thousand. A great number of the volumes are 
 175 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 scientific, historical, sociological, and metaphysical. 
 They are by the highest authorities and of untold value 
 to students and thinkers. The circulating department, 
 which carries benefit to many homes, is a growing and 
 increasingly useful feature. 
 
 The rich beauty and fitness of the library proper are 
 not excelled, it is safe to say, within the state. Perfect 
 harmony of proportion, coloring, and equipment delight 
 and educate the frequenter, and every arrangement is 
 planned with a view to the comfort and convenience 
 of those who come to take away or to remain for study. 
 The finely lettered and gilded mottoes, which adorn the 
 frieze on the four sides of the reading-room — a sug- 
 gestion borrowed from the Congressional Library in 
 Washington — are diamond chips of thoughts which en- 
 rich the memory of even a casual visitor. 
 
 " Read not to contradict and to confute ; nor to believe 
 and take for granted ; nor to find talk and discourse ; but 
 to weigh and consider." — Bacon. 
 
 " Knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to Heaven." — 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 " Get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding." 
 — Solomon. 
 
 " The true university of these days is a collection of books. 
 In books lies the soul of the whole past time." — Carlyle. 
 
 " Glory is acquired by Virtue, but preserved by letters." — 
 Petrarch. 
 
 " Beholding the bright countenance of Truth in the quiet 
 and still air of delightful studies." — Milton. 
 
 " Books are a substantial world, both pure and good." — 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 " Every book we read may be made a round in the ever 
 lengthening ladder by which we climb to knowledge." — 
 Lowell. 
 
 176 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 No nobler gift than a library can be offered to any 
 community. If not a first, it is always an ultimate, 
 necessity. It is in its ministrations the companion of 
 the church and the school, and wherever founded, it must 
 become the centre of an uplifting and ampler intellectual 
 life, charming and blessing successive generations. As 
 the bounty of a man, it is an undertaking of no small 
 moment. For a woman its inception and accomplish- 
 ment is a vaster task, only to be measured by the en- 
 lightened gratitude of the generations that will enjoy its 
 advantages. 
 
 Mrs. Steele's fidelity to the expressed or apprehended 
 wishes of her husband have, as is seen, led her into an 
 independent courage of plan and a fervor in execution 
 equal to her collaborative adaptability — which amounted 
 to positive genius. And she has considered and aided 
 many causes wherein the world has never seen her hand. 
 
 It was the founder's wish to call her gift the " Joel 
 Dorman Steele Memorial Library," but in this she was 
 overruled by advisers. It therefore stands without dis- 
 criminating title, but appropriately bearing the name 
 to which both husband and wife have brought distinc- 
 tion, and which must evermore call to mind the life it 
 commemorates and the wifely devotion that seeks to 
 extend — as he would have extended — its gracious 
 goodwill. 
 
 In Syracuse, also, the names are connected with the 
 University in equal and permanent honor. The faith- 
 fulness of Mrs. Steele in carrying out the provisions of 
 her husband's will, and her further abundant liberaHties, 
 gained the admiration and gratitude of the University 
 authorities, and when, in 1897, a beautiful and commo- 
 dious Science building was erected, it was voted to carve 
 12 177 
 
Life's Immortal Beauty 
 
 in the stone above the entrance the words " Esther 
 Baker Steele Hall of Physics." The University had 
 already, in 1892, conferred upon her the honorary title 
 of Doctor of Literature in recognition of her intellectual 
 attainments and achievements, and in 1895 she had 
 been elected to a place on the board of trustees. 
 
 The immortal beauty of any life is its love and the 
 deeds of blessing that spring therefrom. Over this the 
 shadows of death cannot prevail. Far and steadfastly 
 it shines from its altar of renunciation, obedience and 
 fealty. Far and steadfastly with undying radiance 
 streams the enlightening glow of its pure flame, which 
 has kindled and shall kindle many another holy ardor. 
 
 178 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 FROM HIS DESK 
 
 IN making up a volume illustrative of the character 
 and services of Dr. Steele, his personal letters and 
 literary remains are an embarrassment of riches. The 
 books have been passed with their simple history of rise, 
 progress and permanent power. They stand on the 
 roll of famous books forever, known in councils of 
 schoolmen, and teaching even when, superseded by 
 later thought, their pages no longer fascinate the eye 
 and the heart of the young. Sold by the million, trans- 
 lated into Arabic and Japanese, used in many schools 
 of South America and put into raised letters for the 
 blind, they tell their own tale of the man back of them, 
 who gave no countenance to any theory that overlooked 
 the Divine Creator. They proclaim the teacher and the 
 author, who, more and more, as he was brought into the 
 relation of care-taker and guide to the young, shook 
 himself clear of the restraints of mechanical pedagogy, 
 and swung into the untrammelled freedom of a fine, 
 perceiving nature. They speak of the reverent be- 
 liever who taught spiritual things as potently as he 
 taught intellectual things ; who throughout his life joined 
 the knowledge of the schools to the wisdom approved 
 of God ; who looked beyond the careless hours of youth- 
 ful wilfulness, plot, and rebellion, farther than any tempo- 
 179 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 rary condition of the schoolroom and saw the waiting 
 and just compensations of time. 
 
 But his books probably contain not more than half 
 the writings of his life. There were also countless lec- 
 tures, parlor talks, addresses for church societies, 
 entertainments, and conferences ; papers for teachers' 
 institutes, associations, and conventions ; and some of 
 the most practical and eloquent sermons ever delivered 
 in any pulpit or before graduating classes of young 
 students. 
 
 Besides all these there were letters — so many that 
 they would represent an ordinary man's lifetime of labor. 
 From the army he constantly wrote graphic letters for 
 publication, often several columns long. When abroad 
 or at any point in his own country distant from home, 
 he sent to his home papers richly instructive and enter- 
 taining accounts of all he saw and heard. On current 
 topics, local or otherwise, he put into print the shrewd- 
 est good sense and a foresight that recalls to the reader 
 of this day the words once spoken of his " prophet's 
 vision." 
 
 This " vision " explains much of the enduring quali- 
 ties of man and work. His opinions, written long ago 
 on political tendencies, on alcohol and its problems, on 
 slavery and its outcome, on the status of the negro. 
 North and South, stand verified to-day. With quick 
 foresight he recognized the living truth, followed 
 wherever it led, and was able to forecast conditions 
 and to say the instructive word of present forbearance 
 and expectation. This quality enlarges the sphere of 
 any man and carries his life beyond death with infinite 
 expansion and accomplishment. 
 
 This chapter will be devoted to some quotations from 
 1 80 
 
From His Desk 
 
 his writings which seem especially to contain in them- 
 selves the heart of love, wisdom, and instruction. As 
 showing the unconscious disclosure of his universally 
 considerate nature a few personal paragraphs are given. 
 There is one little letter written to a young lady, a 
 dear friend of Dr. and Mrs. Steele, and called by them 
 in allusion to an epithet once playfully given, " The 
 Wily Fox." It acknowledged an announcement of her 
 betrothal : 
 
 " Your message does not take me entirely by surprise. 
 A bird had whispered in my ear that the trap was set and 
 frequently visited by a certain eager sportsman, while the 
 fox seemed to have lost much of its old-time wiliness. As 
 a man I rejoice greatly over your capture at last. It is 
 another triumph of my sex. 
 
 "And now accept my sincerest congratulations over this 
 defeat of yours — which is a victory. A brimming quarter 
 of a century has taught me the blessedness of married life. 
 I can express no better wish for you than that your experi- 
 ence may be the counterpart of mine." 
 
 Another letter, written late in his ife, demonstrates 
 his respectful attitude toward the opinions of others 
 even when they were contrary to his own. It is in ref- 
 erence to an evangelistic work not to his taste : 
 
 " Those things to which I object seem not only sensa- 
 tional but something beyond this, which I am unwilling to 
 characterize lest I misjudge. I cannot, however, sympa- 
 thize with them nor work in such meetings, and I feel that 
 my absence from town has been beneficial, since I might, 
 by non-attendance, have been a hindrance to a revival which 
 seems to have done great good. It comes to me as a con- 
 stant admonition that 'what is one man's meat is another 
 man's poison.' A method that really harms one may directly 
 benefit another. I rose from hearing a sermon, not long 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 since, saying to myself tliat I had done my duty and at- 
 tended church, but had received no help. Going home, I 
 walked with a good brother who warmly expressed his 
 spiritual betterment. I was therefore bound to beheve that 
 was a good sermon for somebody, and resolved to be increas- 
 ingly careful about criticising from the mere standpoint of 
 personal preference." 
 
 Of his attention to the claims of church methods his 
 letters amply testify : 
 
 " I spoke at the church sociable last night, and am pretty 
 tired this morning. I did not feel much like doing it, but 
 it was thought something about my travels would increase 
 attendance. Our friends seemed pleased." 
 
 This was for Mrs. Steele, to whom alone he spoke of 
 the effect of his public appearances as a speaker. From 
 his impressive success at Lima, Commencement week, 
 1863, which fixed the attention of many educational 
 people upon him, to the Regents' Convocation address 
 of 1884, his dearest pleasure in applause was the thought 
 that it would be grateful to her. 
 
 " I exhibit this egotism of telling how the audience re- 
 ceived my thoughts, only because I know it will be happify- 
 ing to you." 
 
 But hosts of private letters, with their temptations for 
 a gleaner, must fold their revealinga away. The further 
 quotations are from articles prepared for the public which 
 asked for them and which he sought to instruct. The 
 first two date from his college life. Even in those days 
 he wrote with wonderful discernment. Evidently later 
 in life he examined with some surprise these boyish 
 thoughts, for on a margin opposite a particularly excel- 
 182 
 
From His Desk 
 
 lent opinion, neatly expressed, are these words in his 
 mature "handwriting : "I wonder if this was original." 
 It is interesting to note that those first reflections and 
 conclusions mark the foundation principles on which all 
 his activity was based : 
 
 1858 : " The world needs benefactors, self-sacrificing men 
 who will devote their lives to promoting the happiness, not 
 of one body and one soul, but of many bodies and many 
 souls." 
 
 " A thought can never perish nor a thinker be dead." 
 
 " Every exposure of fraud is an evangel of hon- 
 esty." 
 
 1865 : " Nothing is of any value until it becomes sub- 
 servient to law. The lightning flaming its banners in the 
 sky may charm us or may frighten us ; its descending bolt 
 may kill ; but its value becomes apparent only when a yoke is 
 placed upon it and darting along its wire track it flashes 
 thought as the sun flashes light. 
 
 "The river flows toward the ocean almost uselessly — 
 but bind it, gather up its headlong force and a power is 
 developed that grinds our corn, spins our cotton, weaves our 
 cloth and becomes the grand industrial agency of the arts. 
 Steam flies off the surface of boiling water and is lost to 
 view. But set bounds to it beyond which it may not pass, 
 call out its latent energies, and a strength is secured which 
 bears the heaviest burdens and sweeps through the longest 
 journeys unwearied. 
 
 " Take a child : its passions are wild and inflammable, its 
 mind aimless, its will stubborn and refractory. Left to itself, 
 it has no power to control itself or others. It will grow up 
 disorderly, impatient, erratic — careless of the proprieties of 
 church and state, the rights of others and the duties of on- 
 coming manhood. Let restraint be placed upon him ; let 
 him understand the law that is the basis of authority ; let 
 him be taught control of body and mind, and there comes 
 into his soul and life an immortal strength." 
 
 183 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 From a lecture to young people, 1868 : 
 
 " No truth in science is clearer than that we reap just as we 
 sow. Nature is an inexorable master. She keeps her debt 
 and credit account without balancing till the last farthing is 
 paid. In the light-hearted jollity of youth we sow late 
 hours, hearty suppers, folly and dissipation. By and by 
 with tears we garner pains, indigestion, and premature old 
 age. 
 
 " We are often startled by the crash that seems to wreck 
 a fair reputation at a blow. Men cry out at the sudden 
 downfall. The wise man goes to the root of the fallen tree 
 and there detects the marks of decay following the hurt of 
 an evil hour's thought or conduct. No great crime comes 
 suddenly, except to the on-looker. O, how changed would 
 be the life if we but reaped the harvest in the furrow ! " 
 
 From a lecture to pupils on growth, 1869 : 
 
 "Character is self-evolved. It is not something taken 
 on — a varnish, a gilding — but an educating, a drawing out 
 of the forces of the soul. We hear a great deal about self- 
 made men, as if they were a distinct class. It is a mislead- 
 ing term. All men are self-made if made at all. All men 
 are self-educated, if educated at all. You cannot take on 
 character. You must grow it. Other men's labor, no 
 matter how well-intentioned, cannot impart it to you. Teach- 
 ing even of the best kind, maxims of even the purest 
 stamp, information, facts, experience, are of no good except 
 they stimulate growth, force you to think. Your studies are 
 only valuable as they develop your powers. The thing that 
 will constitute your fitness for life is your habit of thought; 
 your quickness of apprehension ; your thoroughness of exe- 
 cution ; your power of adapting means to an end and of 
 organizing success ; the ability of self-control you have 
 developed — this forms the permanent part of your school- 
 work. The rest will soon mainly go by the board and be 
 forgotten in the rush of life." 
 
From His Desk 
 
 From " Hints Pedagogical," a lecture for very young 
 teachers : 
 
 1874: " ' But,' says one, ' I have some hard cases in my 
 school.' My friends, he is a poor carpenter who never 
 worked up anything but ' clear lumber.' That farmer has 
 something yet to learn who never held a plough among fast 
 stones and hemlock stumps. Set your heart on making a 
 man of that rough boy, a woman of that forbidding girl. 
 There is a deal of sentimentalism afloat on this subject, 
 especially in little story-books with red backs and much 
 gilt. In these is shown how nicely a little and awful vaga- 
 bond was reformed, made to wear good clothes like a Chris- 
 tian and become a bright and shining light in easy stages. 
 But Ignorance in reality is not so charming. Ignorance is 
 filthy; talks bad grammar; swears; looks unamiable; plays 
 mean tricks ; accepts favors and forgets to thank the donor ; 
 is annoying and perplexing; takes good advice for the sake 
 of new clothes — wears out the clothes and throws away the 
 advice. But what of that ! There is your opportunity." 
 
 From a " Parlor talk on German Schools," 1876 : 
 
 " The continent seems to me no place for the education 
 of our boys and girls. To the former especially the tempta- 
 tions are incalculably greater than here. The customs of 
 foreign society and of student life encourage that which must 
 demoralize the pupil, and which in American circles would 
 be a shame and disgrace. I can hardly see how a boy, left 
 alone at Paris or Berlin can escape unsullied, except by a 
 miracle. He would be a new Lot in Sodom — -a new Joseph 
 in Egypt. 
 
 " Yet, strangely enough, boys of sixteen or seventeen, 
 with unfixed principles and unformed habits, are sent abroad 
 to pursue their studies with no relatives to watch over them, 
 no friends to care for them. Living in boarding-houses, 
 unfamiliar with the language and customs of the country ; 
 shut out necessarily from the really best society, removed 
 from the privileges of church and home, deprived of the 
 
 185 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 restraints of public opinion, exposed to all the perils of a 
 strange land, — they are thrust out at an age when we should 
 surround them with every safeguard. 
 
 " Besides all this, there remains the fact that a boy 
 educated in Germany will inevitably imbibe notions alien 
 to our American and republican ideas. His manners, his 
 types of thought, his style of speaking and judging, will 
 be affected. One sentence will embody any enlargement 
 of this argument: An American should be educated in 
 America. 
 
 " Let us gather around our own institutions. If we turn 
 our eyes abroad, let it be only to bring home the experience 
 of the centuries to enrich our native land. Let us enlarge 
 the facilities of our universities, giving them professors, 
 libraries, museums, and apparatus; pouring into their treas- 
 uries the wealth we may acquire; realizing that they must be 
 our centres of intellectual life ; the Gymnasia of our culture 
 and refinement ; the hope alike of art, literature, science and 
 religion." 
 
 From "The Scholar in Politics," a lecture of 1876 : 
 
 " Out from the stir and struggle of a laborious life ; out 
 from the sharp clashings of scientific dispute ; out from the 
 janglings of theologic strife, where truth is the prize and God 
 is the umpire ; out from the political arena where disgrace 
 and shame mingle with the glory and achievement of 
 this anniversary year — I come in no mood for rounded 
 periods on scholarly subjects ; with no laurels to cast on the 
 well-ornamented graves of Bacon, Newton, Kant, or Spinoza. 
 I shall attempt no rhetorical antics or classical legerdemain. 
 The questions of to-day stir my soul. 
 
 " Not what Rome was but what New York is concerns us 
 most vitally. My pulse quickens not at the message of 
 some courier, clanking along the Appian way with news of 
 Caesar or Antony, but with the click of the telegraph and 
 the elections of yesterday. Nineteenth century issues press 
 in on every hand and demand investigation. A thousand 
 186 
 
From His Desk 
 
 subjects challenge criticism in science, religion, art, litera- 
 ture and politics. We cannot ignore them if we would. 
 There are forces fast digging the channels along which are 
 to pour the tides of national life for the coming ages. The 
 workmen are busy all about us. We hear the ring of the 
 spade and the rattle of the earth. Should not the scholar 
 answer questions, guide forces, and assert himself in the 
 positions his education qualifies him to fill.? 
 
 " Every man here is a King. On each, therefore, rests 
 the responsibility of the crown and the throne. In the early 
 days of our history this was felt to be a privilege. The 
 most highly educated men, University graduates, ministers 
 — of whom at one time there was a superabundance in the 
 little colony clustered around Massachusetts Bay — all took 
 part in the government. 
 
 " Two centuries have changed all this. We no longer 
 govern ourselves but the politicians and place-seekers govern 
 us. We are told, forsooth, that the pool of politics is dirty, 
 and that he who would keep his garments clean must not 
 venture to go down, even though he be sure that it is an 
 Angel that is troubling the waters. A minister is allowed, 
 by sufferance, quietly to cast a ballot, but he is not to indi- 
 cate by word or gesture that he is an American freeman, 
 capable of an enlightened judgment upon the men and 
 measures that are to rule the country. It has come to pass 
 if a man of any standing in a community, takes an active 
 part in a canvass, people begin to inquire at once, ' What 
 does he want .'* ' It does not seem to occur to any one that 
 a man with anything else to do would be willing to attend 
 primaries or work at the polls from a sense of duty — a wish 
 to see the right man (though he be not a personal friend) 
 elected to office. 
 
 "... It is the duty and privilege of the educated man to 
 establish an aristocracy of brains rather than one of the 
 dollar — to assert the supremacy of mind and to seek for 
 intelligence, Christianity and culture the positions that right- 
 fully belong to them." 
 
 187 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 The following are the closing words of a sermon de- 
 livered before one of his graduating classes : 
 
 " Work, then, honestly, persistently, patiently, watchfully, 
 devotedly ; building not for yourself and the present time, 
 but for God and the blessed eternities. The years we were 
 to pass together are drawing to a close. The famihar hours 
 of song, of prayer, of earnest thought, of social joys, are 
 already growing fainter in the distance, like the footfalls of 
 a departing friend. Sweet and tender are these memories 
 as I stand before you to-night. Remember, I pray you, 
 their lessons of wisdom ; garner their wealth of sunshine for 
 the darkness of some hour yet perchance to come. Stand- 
 ing here on the brink of the present, I ponder the future. 
 The future ! O, that I could prophesy to you of that / 
 But I need not. Brother, sister, put thy hand in God's 
 hand. He will lead thee where the counsels of the elders 
 would fail, and the strong man would falter and fall. The 
 tempest-tossed ocean of life must be crossed ; but I hear 
 the loving words, 'Peace, be still.' And far away, amid 
 the gathering mists and darkness of the on-coming years, 
 I see the signal lamps swinging and flashing and beckoning 
 to our Father's house." 
 
 In July, 1884, Dr. Steele, at the Centennial Anni- 
 versary of the University of the State of New York, 
 delivered before the University Convocation his last 
 public address. On account of its length and educa- 
 tional importance it is embodied in a chapter by itself, 
 — the one succeeding this. 
 
 What was the magic of his pen, what his continuing 
 dominion over men? It was his recognition of truth, 
 and that something by which he made others see it. 
 Some called his winning charm one thing, some another. 
 But each life stirred by the thrills of his own, through 
 188 
 
From His Desk 
 
 whatever channel, felt the mysterious and blessed tie of 
 fraternity. 
 
 He asked no other man's privilege, no other man's 
 mission. He drank from the nearest pure spring, and 
 bore to his neighbor's thirst a cup of its refreshment. 
 He worked in his own place, not chafing at its limita- 
 tions but making it limitless. With a high sense of 
 its dignity he wrought the humblest task that waited his 
 hand — with humility he did the thing the world called 
 great. 
 
 Was he called untimely from the need of the world ? 
 But he had said of himself long before : " We cannot go 
 until our work is done I ^^ 
 
 189 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE-TEACHING i 
 
 IN THE ACADEMIES OF THIS STATE, AND SOME REFLEC- 
 TIONS THEREON. 
 
 BY JOEL DORMAN STEELE 
 
 IN the limited time allowed me for the preparation 
 of this article I have been able to make only what, 
 in days now happily past, we learned to call a recon- 
 naissance. What little I have discovered I submit, 
 hoping that it may be of service to some one who shall 
 hereafter occupy the field in force. 
 
 " A century ago " in science seems to us an age. 
 The phlogistic theory was then scarcely overthrown, 
 and Lavoisier was still busy in laying the foundations 
 of chemistry. Count Rumford, or, as we should know 
 him by his plain American name, Benjamin Thompson, 
 had not yet proved that " heat is a mode of motion." 
 Humboldt was still to take mankind by the hand, as 
 Virgil took Dante, and lead the way through the Cos- 
 mos. The asteroids wandered unknown in space. 
 Galvani's frogs were sporting in their native ponds. 
 The very latest chemical news was that one Cavendish 
 had proved water to be composed of two gases — hy- 
 drogen and oxygen. 
 
 Fascinated by the vast strides of recent science we 
 are sometimes disposed to underrate the triumphs of 
 
 ^ Read before the University Convocation at Albany, N. Y., 1S84. 
 190 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 the elders. The nineteenth century philosophers stand 
 in the foreground and fill the whole angle of vision. 
 Physics without Young, Arago, Ampere, Faraday, Kirch- 
 hoff, or Henry ; chemistry without Dalton, Gay-Lussac, 
 Davy, Liebig, Bunsen, or Draper ; physical geography 
 and geology without Humboldt, Buckland, Lyell, Agassiz, 
 Hitchcock, Dana, Guyot, Hall, Winchell, or Dawson ; bi- 
 ology without Lamarck, Cuvier, or Darwin ; and astronomy 
 without John Herschel, Leverrier, Lockyer, Young, Lang- 
 ley, or Newcomb — all look so barren that we are half in- 
 clined to wonder why our fathers ever studied science. 
 
 With such thoughts in mind, I have found it a very 
 pleasant task to examine some of the scientific school 
 books used in the academies during the present century. 
 
 The oldest text-book I have been able to find is 
 Blair's "Easy Grammar of Natural Philosophy " printed 
 in England (1804) and republished in this country. It 
 is a tiny, well written, and neatly illustrated work. 
 There are chapters on matter and its properties, motion, 
 mechanics, pneumatics, acoustics, optics, electricity and 
 magnetism, and a brief section on astronomy. 
 
 But far more popular, in the early part of the century, 
 was Mrs. Marcet's " Conversations on Natural Philoso- 
 phy." This author also wrote similar works on chemistry 
 and political economy. Of the latter, Macaulay says : 
 " Any girl who has read Mrs. Marcet's book could 
 teach Montague or Walpole many lessons on finance." 
 Martineau's biographical sketches speak of Mrs. Marcet 
 in glowing terms. In England, there were numerous 
 editions of her " Conversations," and they were reprinted 
 in this country. Mr. Blake, a Boston teacher, edited 
 the edition of 1824, adding questions at the bottom of 
 the page after the good old fashion. In the language 
 
 191 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 of the Yankee publisher, " Mrs. Marcet's treatise on 
 natural philosophy has probably contributed more to 
 excite, in the minds of the young, a fondness for study- 
 ing the science, than all other works together." Let 
 me quote from the table of contents. There are chap- 
 ters on the general properties of bodies ; the attraction 
 of gravity ; the laws of motion — simple and compound ; 
 the mechanical powers ; hydrostatics ; springs, foun- 
 tains, etc. ; pneumatics ; wind and sound ; optics, etc. 
 Notice that the divisions are very like those now used, 
 but that electricity is omitted. The topics follow one 
 another naturally, the style is pleasant, while many of 
 the examples are familiar to us. Strangely enough in 
 the centre of the work, is interpolated a treatise on as- 
 tronomy, containing four chapters on the earth, the 
 planets, the moon, and the tides. In the edition before 
 me printed at Boston in 1831, I am surprised at the 
 classic beauty of the illustrations ; they are not pictures, 
 but drawings of practical value. 
 
 The next step in the progress of scientific instruction 
 is chronicled in the preface of Comstock's *' System of 
 Natural Philosophy," published at Hartford in 1832. 
 The following extract is very suggestive : 
 
 " Mrs. Marcet's ' Conversations on Natural Philosophy,' 
 a foreign work now extensively used in our schools, though 
 beautifully written, and often highly interesting, is consid- 
 ered by most instructors as exceedingly deficient — particu- 
 larly in wanting such a method in its explanations as to 
 convey to the mind of the pupil precise and definite ideas. 
 
 " It is also doubted by many instructors, whether ' Conver- 
 sations ' is the best form for a book of instruction, and par- 
 ticularly on the several subjects embraced in a system of 
 natural philosophy. Indeed those who have had most ex- 
 perience as teachers, are decidedly of the opinion tliat it is 
 192 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 not; and hence we learn that in those parts of Europe 
 where the subject of education has received the most atten- 
 tion, and consequently where the best methods of conveying 
 instruction are supposed to have been adopted, school books 
 in the form of conversations are at present entirely out of 
 use." 
 
 A leaf of recommendations follows the preface. I give 
 a specimen in full. It shows that even the phrases of 
 our fathers survive in our speech and writing. This 
 letter is from John Griscom, LL.D., then principal of 
 the New York High School, and one of the best science 
 teachers of his day : 
 
 New York, June 19, 1830. 
 
 Esteemed Friend, — I have received and examined thy 
 book on natural philosophy, with much satisfaction. I have 
 no hesitation in saying, that I consider it better adapted to 
 the purposes of school instruction than any of the manuals 
 hitherto in use with which I am acquainted. The amiable 
 author of the " Conversations " threw a charm over the differ- 
 ent subjects which she has treated of by the interlocutory 
 style which she adopted, and thus rendered the private study 
 of those sciences more attractive ; but this style of manner, 
 being necessarily diffuse, is not so well adapted to the di- 
 dactic forms of instruction pursued in schools. Hence, 
 also, more matter can be introduced within the same com- 
 pass, and I find, on comparing thy volume with either of the 
 editions of the " Conversations " now in use, that the former 
 is much better entitled to the appellation of a system of 
 natural philosophy than the latter. The addition also of 
 electricity, and magnetism is by no means unimportant in 
 a course of instruction in the physical sciences. 
 
 I am, with great respect, 
 John Griscom. 
 
 P. S. — I have recommended thy book to all the pupils 
 of our high school who attend to natural philosophy, and 
 it is the only book which we shall now use as a class-book, 
 13 193 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 This very excellent philosophy is doubtless familiar 
 to many present. Indeed, the copy I have was put in 
 my hands as a text-book just forty years since. How 
 familiar, and yet how strange the work appears ! Fa- 
 miliar cuts, illustrations of principles, definitions and 
 statements occur on every page ; and yet it seems 
 strange to look over a natural philosophy with no refer- 
 ence to heat, galvanism, thermo-electricity, spectrum 
 analysis, or conservation of energy; that assigns only 
 four pages to magnetism, and thirteen to electricity; 
 and that speaks of light as " composed of exceedingly 
 minute particles of matter," of the sun as *' the largest 
 body in the universe," and gravely remarks that "per- 
 haps from a high mountain a cannon-ball might be 
 thrown five or six miles." Here again, as in Mrs. Mar- 
 cet's book, astronomy is sandwiched in as a separate 
 chapter, but occupying seventy-five of the two hundred 
 and ninety- five pages of the entire book. Wind, also, 
 appears as a topic under acoustics. The connection in 
 this case is so slight, it is interesting to find the classi- 
 fication adopted by different authors. 
 
 Arnott's " Elements of Natural Philosophy " was pub- 
 lished in England, in 1827; was translated into nearly 
 all the European languages and was extensively used in 
 this country. Professor Youmans says that " a genera- 
 tion ago it was the leading text-book." It contained a 
 wealth of illustration expressed in exceedingly happy 
 language. Here the term "natural philosophy" was 
 made to cover a treatise on astronomy, and another on 
 physiology. The title of one chapter carries the thought 
 back to other days. It is this : " The Imponderables — 
 Caloric, Light, Electricity and Magnetism." 
 
 In both these works we find the great principles of 
 194 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 physics so carefully defined and illustrated that one 
 cannot but be impressed with the idea that, after all, 
 the old preponderates over the new. Because the new 
 is fresh, and we are all eager to keep abreast with the 
 times, the recently-discovered truth often takes the 
 precedence of long-established principles, that, on ac- 
 count of their age, have lost their novelty, but are still, 
 as before, the basis of the subject. It would surprise 
 one to see how much the pupil thoroughly grounded 
 in these old books would know, and how little he would 
 have to unlearn. 
 
 In chemistry, as in physics, there were conversations, 
 and then the didactic text-book. The older teachers 
 will remember the best, perhaps, of the latter kind — 
 "Comstock's Elements of Chemistry" (1831). This 
 was, in part, based on the larger work of Dr. Turner, 
 published in London, 1827. In his preface, Comstock 
 remarks : " Of all the sciences, chemistry is the most 
 complete in respect to its language, the order of its 
 arrangement, the succession of its subjects, and hence 
 in the facility with which it may be learned." How 
 easy it all seemed fifty years ago ! The phlogistic 
 theory had been swept away ; an admirable and syste- 
 matic nomenclature had been adopted; the atomic 
 theory, with the law of definite proportions and equiva- 
 lents, had given a basis of philosophy and invested the 
 composition of bodies with a new interest ; while the 
 brilliant experiments of Davy had attracted universal 
 attention. Happy day ! The intricacies of the new 
 nomenclature were yet far in the future. The concep- 
 tions of unitary structures, of quantivalence, of organic 
 radicals, of substitution, were unknown. Imagine the 
 look that would have come over the face of a student 
 
 195 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 of Comstock, who should have been asked to give the 
 chemical constitution of, for example, ethyl — amyl — 
 phenyl — ammonium iodide. 
 
 Following Comstock came the profound work by 
 Silliman, and the popularization of the subject by You- 
 mans. To how many of us Professor Youman's charm- 
 ing lectures were like the opening of a great gate letting 
 us into a new realm of thought of which we had never 
 dreamed ! 
 
 Geology is a science almost of yesterday. When 
 Silliman began to lecture at Yale (1804), " most of the 
 rocks were without a name, and classification of the 
 strata was quite unknown." In 1820, Professor Eaton 
 and Dr. Lewis Beck, made a geological survey of 
 Albany county, and ten years later, Professor Eaton 
 published his geological text-book, with a colored map 
 of New York geology. The survey of New York State, 
 commenced in 1836, by Vanuxem, Emmons, Mather, 
 Torrey, Lewis Beck, DeKay, and him whom we are 
 proud to have in our midst today — James Hall, opened 
 a new era in the study, and by classifying the paleozoic 
 rocks made our geologic fields classic ground for all 
 time. " Hitchcock's Elementary Geology," published 
 in 1840, passed through thirty editions in twenty years, 
 and did much to popularize the subject. It specially 
 served, in part, to allay the violent prejudice that had 
 arisen in many minds because of the supposed anti- 
 biblical tendency of geologic teachings. The instructor 
 of to-day knows little of the bitter opposition the 
 teacher of twenty-five years ago often experienced from 
 his patrons if he ventured to insinuate that the earth 
 was not created in six days of twenty-four hours each. 
 What Huxley so aptly termed, in his Chickering Hall 
 196 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 lecture, the " Miltonian Hypothesis " was then only too 
 currently msisted upon, as many of us found to our 
 cost. 
 
 '' Cleaveland's Treatise of Mineralogy" appeared in 
 1816, and fostered the growing taste for this study. 
 The " Edinburgh Review," in those days when it was 
 praise indeed to speak well of an American book, said 
 that Cleaveland's was the " most useful work on miner- 
 alogy in the language," and advised its republication in 
 Great Britain. "Dana's Mineralogy " came out in 1837, 
 and soon became, what it is to-day, the standard 
 authority. 
 
 Astronomy is the oldest of the sciences, yet in the 
 early part of the century it seems to have been con- 
 sidered in school work, as we have seen, a sort of ad- 
 dendum to physics. The oldest American academic 
 text-book I have been able to find is the " New Ameri- 
 can Grammar of the Elements of Astronomy," on an 
 improved plan, by James Ryan ; it was published in 
 New York, and copyrighted in 1825. Herschel's Out- 
 lines, afterward so popular, appeared in 1849. "Olm- 
 sted's Letters on Astronomy," printed in 1840, were 
 addressed, as the author tells us in his preface to the 
 revised edition, to a female friend (then no more) 
 whose exalted and pure image was continually present 
 in the composition of the work. The eminence of 
 Professor Olmsted and the richness of his diction gave 
 these Letters a wide circulation. The appearance of 
 "Burritt's Geography of the Heavens," especially when 
 revised by Mattison, formed an epoch in astronomical 
 teaching in our schools. Many of us recall the feeling 
 we experienced when we first opened those beautiful 
 charts and realized that then we could teach the subject 
 
 197 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 as never before. It is not strange that at one time this 
 work was adopted in our academies almost exclusively. 
 
 Did time and space permit I should like to name 
 many other academic text-books used by our fathers 
 and by us in our first attempts at teaching, such as 
 Lincoln's "Botany," Comstock's " Physiology," Bonny- 
 castle's " Introduction to Astronomy," Mrs. Phelps' 
 " Philosophy," Robinson's " Philosophy," Euler's " Let- 
 ters to a German Princess," Comstock's " Geology," 
 Parker's " Philosophy," Potter's " Science and Arts of 
 Industry," Smith's " Philosophy," and many others. But 
 ere I leave this subject, I must make a suggestive quota- 
 tion from " An Address to the public, particularly to the 
 members of the Legislature of New York," by Emma 
 Willard, published in 1819. This remarkable educator 
 here sketched her idea of a female seminary. Among 
 the studies to be pursued she recommends that of 
 "natural philosophy, which," she says, '■^ has not often 
 been taught to our sex. Yet why should we be kept in 
 ignorance of the great machinery of nature, and left to 
 the vulgar notion that nothing is curious but what devi- 
 ates from her common course In some of the 
 
 sciences proper for our sex, the books written for the 
 other would need alteration ; because, in some they 
 presuppose more knozvkdge than female pupils ivotdd 
 possess ; in others, they have parts not particularly in- 
 teresting to our sex, and omit subjects immediately 
 pertaining to their pursuits." From this we might sup- 
 pose that a publisher's prospectus of the time would 
 have run somewhat after this style : " A natural philoso- 
 phy reduced to the comprehension of the female mind," 
 and "A chemistry expurgated and revised so as to in- 
 clude only those subjects that pertain to the pursuits of 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 women." What would good Miss Willard have thought 
 if she could have seen the thorough course of laboratory 
 work pursued by the young men and women of Cornell, 
 or the comprehensive schedule of study at Syracuse, 
 Vassar, and Elmira? 
 
 Let us now pass on to notice the apparatus formerly 
 used in our schools. 
 
 A century since, experimental science was just de- 
 veloping. It should be chronicled as a matter of history 
 that, at this early period, during the dark days of 
 poverty that followed the Revolution, the Regents of 
 the University encouraged its growth in a practical 
 manner. Within a month after the organization of the 
 Board, in 1784, it authorized its foreign agent "to pur- 
 chase such a philosophical apparatus for Columbia 
 College as Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson, 
 ministers of the United States, advise." This measure 
 seems, however, to have failed, for the minutes contain 
 several allusions to the need of apparatus, until, in 1786, 
 it was voted to pay ;^200 to Dr. Bard, then professor 
 of natural philosophy in the Medical School, for the 
 apparatus he had secured under the direction of the 
 Board. In 1790 the sum of ;^750 was appropriated to 
 the purchase of books and apparatus ; one-half to Col- 
 umbia College, and one-half to the four academies then 
 under the care of the Regents (viz. : Clinton, North 
 Salem, Goshen, and Flatbush), the apparatus, etc., to 
 belong to the Board and to remain in these institutions 
 at its pleasure. In 1793 there was a similar appropria- 
 tion, and in 1794 another of ^1,500; the latter sum, 
 however, to be divided between the purchase of books and 
 apparatus, and the support of " youths of genius, whose 
 parents were too poor to pay for their education." 
 
 199 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Frequently, too, when special appropriations were 
 made by the Legislature to particular academies, there 
 was a clause inserted requiring the authorities of the 
 institution to secure an apparatus. Thus, for example, in 
 1826, an act for the relief of Jamestown Academy pro- 
 vided that before receiving " the said sum of $1,600, the 
 trustees shall give security for the faithful application of 
 said sum to the erection of a suitable building for said 
 academy, and to the purchase of library and chemical 
 apparatus^ The act of 1834 prescribed that the excess 
 of the literature fund over $12,000 should be assigned 
 by the Regents to the schools under their visitation for 
 " the purchase of text-books, maps, globes, philosophi- 
 cal or chemical apparatus " to the amount of not over 
 $250 per year; but, with a nice discrimination, specifies 
 that such school must first have applied an equal sum 
 to the same object. The act of 1838 directed that 
 "no academy shall participate in the annual distribution 
 of the literature fund until the Regents shall be satisfied 
 that such academy is provided with a suitable library 
 and apparatus." The act of 1857 fixed the amount to 
 be applied by the Regents to the purchase of apparatus, 
 etc., at $3,000. 
 
 This seems like a small sum, it is true, for a great 
 State to apply to such an object, but its influence has 
 been most marked. From our own knowledge, we can 
 testify of academies that, through the fear of losing their 
 •share of the literature fund, have provided themselves 
 with a " suitable library and apparatus ; " and of teach- 
 ers who, struggling to procure proper facilities for work, 
 have found the assurance of the secretary that their 
 contributions would be doubled by the Regents, just 
 the lever needed to encourage their patrons to do 
 200 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 what otherwise they would never have attempted. All 
 honor and thanks to the men who devised and carried 
 out this beneficent scheme. Many a school owes its 
 library and apparatus entirely to the stimulus of this 
 appropriation. 
 
 As to the general character of the apparatus used in 
 the early times, I have been able to secure little in- 
 formation. In 1835, the Regents voted an appropria- 
 tion to buy apparatus for Fairfield, Canandaigua, St. 
 Lawrence, Kinderhook, Middlebury, and Montgomery 
 academies. Nearly all the lists are alike ; I append the 
 one furnished Fairfield, as a specimen : 
 
 Orrery $20 00 
 
 Globes 12 00 
 
 Numerical frame and geometrical solids . 2 50 
 
 Movable planisphere i 50 
 
 Tide dial 3 00 
 
 Optical apparatus 10 00 
 
 Mechanical powers 1 2 00 
 
 Hydrostatic apparatus 10 00 
 
 Pneumatic apparatus 35 00 
 
 Chemical apparatus 25 00 
 
 One hundred specimens of mineralogy . 10 00 
 
 Electrical machine 12 00 
 
 Instruments to teach surveying ... 80 00 
 
 Map of United States 8 00 
 
 Map of New York 8 00 
 
 Atlas 5 00 
 
 Telescope 40 00 
 
 Quadrant 15 00 
 
 Total $309 00 
 
 Notice that the Regents were thus instrumental in dis- 
 tributing among the schools small mineralogical cabinets, 
 a year before the geological survey of the State began. 
 201 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Those whose memory dates back three or four decades 
 will recall the standard apparatus of that time — the table 
 air-pump, the cylinder electrical machine, Barker's Mill, 
 the frame with the mechanical powers, a trough battery, 
 Hare's compound blow-pipe, etc. 
 
 It is not very long since physical laboratories for stu- 
 dents' use were unknown ; instruments of precision were 
 unthought of; chemistry was relegated chiefly to the 
 physician or the druggist ; while the apparatus used in 
 school was largely for the illustration of the principles of 
 natural philosophy. Astronomy boasted of an orrery, 
 an instrument invented by Dr. Rittenhouse, of Philadel- 
 phia, about 1768. Occasionally an academy possessed 
 a movable telescope. But within the memory of some 
 present there was not an observatory on this continent. 
 So late as 1825, President Adams, in his first message, 
 declared that " it is with no feeling of pride as an Amer- 
 ican that the remark may be made that on the compara- 
 tively small territorial surface of Europe there are existing 
 upward of one hundred and thirty of these lighthouses 
 of the skies ; while throughout the whole American 
 hemisphere there is not one." The president's rhetoric 
 was not equal to his aspirations for scientific advance- 
 ment. Not only did his plan for an observatory in con- 
 nection with a national university come to naught, but, 
 worst of all, his conceit of calling an obser\^atory "a 
 lighthouse of the skies," excited such universal ridicule 
 that the subject became obnoxious for years. To arouse 
 a roar of laughter at the president's expense, it was 
 necessary only to allude to his so-called plan of " finding 
 a lighthouse in the skies." 
 
 Repeatedly afterward, Adams and others advocated 
 the scheme of a national observatory, but it was long de- 
 202 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 layed, and the building was not opened until 1844. 
 Meanwhile, the first telescope, above a portable size, 
 was set up at Yale College in 1830; the first observa- 
 tory was established at Williams College in 1836; and 
 the United States Observatory at West Point in 1839 
 was the fourth in order. Others followed apace, so that 
 the Dudley Observatory, incorporated in 1853, was the 
 twenty-second; and Hamilton College Observatory — 
 since so famous under the directorship of its noted 
 planet-finder Dr. Peters — was the twenty-third. 
 
 As to the date of introducing and the number of 
 schools teaching science, my inquiries lead me to believe 
 that more academies formerly pursued this branch of 
 study, at least through physics, than is generally sup- 
 posed. The appropriations by the Regents for the pur- 
 chase of apparatus, the early reports of these schools to 
 the Regents, and the personal statements made by teach- 
 ers who distinctly remember classes of fifty years ago — 
 all tend to the same conclusion. 
 
 Chemistry and physics were taught first in Union 
 College (1797), and next in Columbia College (1802), 
 though in the medical school of the latter institution 
 they were pursued long before. 
 
 The academy record, so far as I have been able to 
 collect it, is as follows : 
 
 No. of pupils in 
 Name. natural philosophy. Date. 
 
 Clinton Academy 12 1788 
 
 Kingston Academy 6 1804 
 
 Union Hall Academy .... 23 1804 
 
 Oyster Bay Academy 3 1804 
 
 Catskill Academy 6 1804 
 
 Cayuga Academy i 1805 
 
 Fairfield Academy 10 1806 
 
 203 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 Name. 
 
 
 
 No. of pupils in 
 natural philosophy. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Hamilton Oneida Academy 
 Erasmus Hall 
 
 
 3 
 9 
 
 i8o6 
 
 1807 
 
 Lansingburgh Academy 
 Hudson Academy . . 
 North Salem Academy 
 Ballston Academy . . 
 Dutchess Academy . . 
 Onondaga Academy . 
 Hartwick Seminary . 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 1807 
 1813 
 1813 
 1813 
 1813 
 1813 
 1815 
 
 Clinton Grammar School 
 
 
 
 
 1830 
 
 Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary . 
 Delaware (Delhi) Academy 
 
 
 1830 
 1830 
 
 (Some of the above academies are extinct, or merged 
 into later institutions, but the full record is given as a 
 matter of history.) 
 
 From the Regents' report of fifty years ago (1834), 
 which includes sixty-seven academies, I have compiled 
 the following table : 
 
 No. of schools in which 
 Name of study. said study was taught. 
 
 Natural philosophy 62 
 
 Chemistry 44 
 
 Geology 
 
 Natural history 9 
 
 Botany 18 
 
 Mineralogy i 
 
 Anatomy i 
 
 Physiology 
 
 The latest Regents' report (1884) includes two hun- 
 dred and fifty- seven academies and academical depart- 
 ments. I have compiled from it the following table : 
 204 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 No. of schools in which 
 
 said study was taught 
 
 in the following years : 
 
 Name of study. 1873. 1883. 
 
 Physics 131 208 
 
 Chemistry 69 146 
 
 Astronomy 58 138 
 
 Zoology 4 SI 
 
 Geology 46 106 
 
 Physiology 102 208 
 
 Botany 126 143 
 
 The greatest change that appears in the later table is 
 the introduction of geology and physiology, which were 
 not taught fifty years ago. Instruction was given in 
 geology first at Jefferson Academy in 1 834-1 835, Com- 
 stock's text-book being used ; during the following year 
 the study was pursued at Jefferson, Washington, and 
 Bridgewater Academies. It is a source of great gratifi- 
 cation to notice that, during the past decade (1873- 
 1883), the member of science-classes taught in the acad- 
 emies of the State has very nearly doubled. 
 
 It is easy to imagine the method of science-teaching 
 employed in the early days. In education, as in geol- 
 ogy, there are retrospective types. As the garpike ex- 
 plains the ancient Devonian fishes, and the nautilus 
 reveals the structure of the ammonite, so enough old- 
 fashioned pedagogues have survived to furnish a key to 
 the paleozoic age of education. 
 
 How vividly the ancient method comes to mind as we 
 recall our own school days ! Occasional lectures were 
 given on pneumatics, hydrostatics, etc. The apparatus 
 was brought out of the case ; the dust of the preceding 
 year was brushed off; a withered apple was made plump, 
 and a frightened-half-to-death mouse was scientifically 
 205 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 exterminated under the receiver of the old table air- 
 pump ; a boy was put on the insulated stool and his 
 hair caused to stand up like " quills upon the fretful 
 porcupine ; " next, the class, taking each other's hands, 
 formed a ring and received the shock of a Leyden jar. 
 So, the hour passed all too quickly, with much fun and 
 little science, and then the apparatus was carefully put 
 away for the next yearly exhibition. 
 
 For class-work, the book was placed in the hands of 
 the pupil ; a lesson was assigned, which he was expected 
 to " learn by heart " and then recite verbatim. Practi- 
 cally, however, the book being kindly provided with 
 questions at the bottom of the page, we inclosed with 
 brackets such portions of the lesson as we thought would 
 be required for the answers. Happy was the boy who 
 had an old book marked by a brother or sister who had 
 gone over the ground before. He could commit exactly 
 what was needed, and was saved all trouble of reading 
 over the rest of the text. Neither pupil nor teacher 
 ever thought of making any appeal to the object de- 
 scribed. No one could identify in real life the thing he 
 had read about in his book. As Agassiz so well re- 
 marked, " The pupil studies Nature in the schoolroom, 
 and when he goes outdoors he cannot find her," In 
 fact, he never looked for her. 
 
 Since that time there has been an entire revolution in 
 method. I do not think that this change occurred at 
 any fixed date. Professor Silliman, in his address at the 
 grave of Priestley, commemorating the centennial of the 
 discovery of oxygen in 1774, said: "The year 1845 
 marks the beginning of a new era in the scientific life of 
 America." I cannot accept the doctrine of educational 
 catas trophism. It is more probable that there has been, 
 206 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 through many years, a gradual evolution of better ways 
 of teaching. 
 
 Numerous causes have conspired to bring about this 
 result. By the close of the first half-century from the 
 formation of our government under its new constitution, 
 enormous changes had taken place ; the number of 
 States had doubled ; the population had reached seven- 
 teen millions ; the great west was growing with marvel- 
 lous rapidity ; the railroad system was fairly inaugurated 
 and our immense treasures of coal and iron were being 
 developed. Then came the conquest of Mexico, and 
 the discovery of gold in California, laying open the un- 
 told resources of a vast region to the skill and enter- 
 prise of an already highly-stimulated people. Science 
 was, even before this, making rapid strides. Grand 
 generalizations thrilled the pulse of the world. Applica- 
 tions of principles to common life brought the subject 
 within the comprehension of practical men. Every one 
 who had a daguerreotype taken by the process initiated by 
 our own Dr. Draper, felt a dawning respect for the 
 wonders of science. The triumphs of steam and elec- 
 tricity were patent to all. Men saw the " labor of a year 
 shrinking into the compass of a day ; the travel of a day 
 into the compass of an hour ; and the thought of man 
 outstripping the velocity of light." They demanded to 
 know something of the new forces that were shaking the 
 nations. The call arose on all sides for a wider curricu- 
 lum and more practical methods of study in the schools. 
 Out of such an environment grew up the new education. 
 Technological schools were established, the first of which 
 was our own Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded 
 so far back as 1824. The colleges gradually yielded to 
 the unwelcome necessity. Laboratories were erected. 
 207 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 The modern methods of science-teaching were intro- 
 duced. Students came back into the academies equipped 
 with the recent views of education. 
 
 The change that has been wrought during the last 
 twenty-five or thirty years is marvellous. The colleges 
 can now demand for entrance a better knowledge of 
 science than they themselves gave in their regular course 
 a quarter of a century ago ; many a country academy 
 and city high school can boast a finer apparatus than 
 the college then afforded ; and in not a few secondary 
 schools, competent teachers (they are worthy of the 
 name of professor), in their laboratories and in the 
 open field, are bringing their pupils face to face with 
 nature. 
 
 I cannot join in the fashion, at present very common 
 among a certain class of specialists, of pointing the 
 finger of contempt at the average academic science- 
 teacher. Cram is not the goddess of the academy 
 alone. She sometimes lives and reigns in institutions of 
 loftier name. The " birds whisper in the air " of in- 
 different professors who lock up their cabinets, or go 
 through listless laboratory work that is only the ghost of 
 the new education ; and of pupils who repeat, parrot- 
 like, the names of fossils and compounds they never 
 saw, describe abstruse theories they never applied, and 
 read off from their closely-written cuffs and collars the 
 formulae they are too lazy to commit and too ignorant 
 to grasp. Such exceptions prove nothing against one 
 class of institutions more than another. The average 
 school is as good as the people want, and far better than 
 they are willing to pay for. The over-burdened teacher, 
 occupied with his regular recitations every hour in the 
 day ; required to teach, besides the whole sweep of 
 208 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 the sciences, perhaps half a dozen branches of study, 
 ranging from arithmetic to the IHad ; with no time to 
 prepare experiments or to clean up after them, except 
 in precious hours snatched at the cost of health from 
 his meals, rest, and exercise ; having no money, save 
 what he takes from his own scantily- filled purse, to pay 
 for chemicals, and the expense of working and repairing 
 the apparatus provided, as well as for making the simple 
 instruments he would like ; unable to purchase books 
 and too weary to read them were they his; knowing 
 that science is constantly advancing, yet shut in, by a 
 necessity he cannot overcome, from every source of 
 information, — is it any wonder if, too often, in sheer 
 despair, he takes refuge in the old-fashioned method, 
 and teaches chemistry as he does Greek — from the 
 book? 
 
 Permit me, in closing, to offer a few reflections : 
 I. The error is sometimes made of trying to turn an 
 academy into a college. The science-teacher mistakes 
 his own growth for that of his pupils. Because he 
 understands a subject more fully and easily, and can 
 talk about it better than formerly, by that transference 
 of quality, so natural to us, he conceives that his pupils 
 are more advanced, and can digest stronger food than 
 those of a few years before. He accordingly attempts 
 to teach the most abstruse theories to mere boys and 
 girls. While claiming a place for science among the 
 more elementary studies, because it employs and culti- 
 vates the powers of observation, he yet seeks to elabor- 
 ate formulae as difficult as any grammatical analysis. 
 Years will be required for those child- minds to expand 
 sufficiently to grasp such comprehensive views, or to 
 gather in enough material for their application. Now, 
 14 209 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 a theory is only a thread on which to string the isolated 
 beads of fact, but if one have no beads, of what use is 
 the thread? Time and again, patrons and pupils com- 
 plain of this tendency, and remark of their teacher, " he 
 is growing too learned for us ; he ought to be in a 
 college." The effect of such teaching is to destroy the 
 interest naturally felt in scientific pursuits; to render 
 them dull and unattractive ; and to send the pupil out 
 into life with no incentive to, or love for, further study. 
 
 2. The progressive, studious teacher delights in the 
 newest discoveries of science. They fill his mind, and 
 stir his blood. Fired with their wonders, he is liable to 
 dwell upon them to the exclusion of that which is old, 
 and hence " flat, stale, and unprofitable " to hhn, but 
 which is new, interesting, and absolutely necessary for 
 his pupil. Secondary classes need principally the ele- 
 mentary facts and laws, and very little indeed of scien- 
 tific gossip. They should be well grounded in truths, 
 most of which our fathers knew almost as well as we do. 
 
 3. To be intelligent nowadays demands a general 
 acquaintance with many branches. Even to read a met- 
 ropolitan newspaper, understandingly, requires some in- 
 formation concerning science, history, art, literature, 
 geography — a not mean range of scholarship. With a 
 certain class of people this kind of universal knowledge 
 is stigmatized as superficial. How often do we hear the 
 maxim quoted, "A little knowledge is a dangerous 
 thing." "A very dangerous adage it is," says Huxley. 
 " If knowledge is real and genuine, I do not believe it is 
 other than a very valuable possession, however infinites- 
 imal its quantity. Indeed, if a little knowledge is dan- 
 gerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out 
 of danger?" 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 It needs a life-time to become profoundly learned in 
 any branch. But because one does not wish to calculate 
 an eclipse, may he not learn enough of astronomy to 
 understand the law of gravitation, to trace the constella- 
 tions, to see the planets with a telescopic eye, to appre- 
 ciate the splendid triumphs of celestial physics, and to 
 make the heavens a source of joy for his life-time? Be- 
 cause one does not care to name every timber and brace 
 and rafter of the " house he lives in," may he not learn 
 enough of physiology and hygiene to understand the laws 
 of his own being, and to conserve the highest working 
 energy of his mind and body? Because one does not 
 desire to make an analysis of an ore, may he not learn 
 enough of chemistry to understand its common applica- 
 tions to his everyday life, and to the arts and sciences? 
 
 Such knowledge may seem very superficial to the as- 
 tronomer, the physician, and the chemist, yet it makes 
 one intelligent in society and business, opens up new 
 avenues for study and thought, and is useful in manifold 
 ways. To obtain the exact knowledge of anatomy re- 
 quired to be a surgeon, would be almost useless for one 
 who does not intend to follow that profession, while the 
 details, not being daily recalled to mind, would soon es- 
 cape his memory. It would be far better for him to 
 spend his time in gaining a general acquaintance with 
 those branches that would give him the broad culture 
 which forms so valuable a possession for a well-read man 
 of the world. Moreover, " the little knowledge " that is 
 dangerous, is that of the man with a hobby, who knows 
 only one thing, who did not lay a broad foundation be- 
 fore he began to build up the specialty of his life's work. 
 The narrowness of his view, the nearness of his horizon, 
 the lack of all notion of the interrelation and interdepend- 
 
 211 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 ence of ideas, make his knowledge a source of peril to 
 himself and others. 
 
 This general acquaintance with science should be 
 "real and genuine," so far as it goes. Thoroughness is 
 a quality applicable to a little, as well as to much, knowl- 
 edge. One term's work may be just as far from super- 
 ficiality, be just as true to the scientific spirit, and be 
 just as perfect of its kind, as a year's labor. Accuracy, 
 definiteness of conception, and readiness in the applica- 
 tion of principles, will be best attained, not by an elabo- 
 ration of the profundities of a subject, nor by a familiarity 
 with its rare details, but by the mastery of its general 
 laws, its characteristic ideas, its most commonly-observed 
 facts ; in a word, by getting into its spirit and becoming 
 able to reason after its manner. 
 
 4. Are we not liable to overestimate the value of a 
 written examination as a test of attainment in science 
 and a basis of advancement in grade? The demand in 
 elementary science is not a smattering of every principle, 
 but a positive grip of the leading truths and their related 
 facts. The test of progress is one's mastery of the 
 scientific method. The new education requires the 
 pupil to see accurately, to judge for himself and to apply 
 principles intelligently. We teach him how to use appa- 
 ratus, how to seek out his own illustrations, and how to 
 improvise simple instruments for proving or explaining 
 his statements. We expect him to weigh, to measure, 
 to scan, to analyze, to combine. We make much of 
 exactness and neatness of manipulation. We show how 
 investigations are made, and, when the pupil is suffi- 
 ciently advanced to warrant it, we encourage him to ven- 
 ture upon little excursions of his own. Now, nearly all 
 this work with nature, instead of about x\3XViXt, and hence 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 the most valuable part of the science-teaching, lies out- 
 side the reach of a written examination. A few prob- 
 lems and queries may be propounded, but the haste and 
 excitement of an examination by no means favor that 
 calm, judicial clearness of thought with which one should 
 always study a query that nature presents for his solution. 
 
 Both teacher and pupil realize, when preparing for 
 such an examination, that the result will be likely to 
 hinge upon the remembrance of details. " They accord- 
 ingly work," says Huxley, " to pass, not to know ; but 
 outraged science takes its revenge. They do pass, but 
 they don't know." Now, in all this the delicate aroma 
 of fine teaching entirely exhales. 
 
 5. The path of the beginner is not the path of the in- 
 vestigator. At first, the pupil must take things upon au- 
 thority. It is a mere waste of time to set him at work to 
 discover and prove for himself. He is ignorant of scien- 
 tific laws and processes ; he cannot rely upon his own 
 reasoning and he ought not to ; he knows neither the 
 limits of, nor the errors incident to, experimentation; 
 he cannot interpret results ; he does not understand how 
 to manipulate apparatus ; and his crude work may dis- 
 prove the very thing he ought to prove. The idea of 
 turning a tyro into a laboratory, and thinking that, be- 
 cause he is learning how to bend a glass tube, or to make 
 oxygen gas, he is therefore on the high road to discover 
 every secret of nature, is as absurd as it is injurious. A 
 wonderful power of manipulation may be acquired with- 
 out gaining a single philosophical idea. 
 
 A certain amount of thorough elementary study, ac- 
 companied by lecture-table illustrations from the teacher, 
 and a gradual introduction into the use of apparatus, the 
 methods of experimentation, the properties of matter, 
 
 213 
 
Joel Dorman Steele 
 
 and the broad scope and application of natural law, 
 should in general, precede any laboratory work, either 
 physical or chemical. 
 
 6. Oral instruction, or, better, oral assistance, is in- 
 valuable as a help in science-teaching. It supplements 
 the deficiencies of every book ; it gives freshness and 
 vivacity to the recitation. But when a Httle excitement 
 in class is substituted for the steady drill and toil of the 
 individual mind ; when the teacher does all the winnow- 
 ing and screening of the subject for the pupil, and feeds 
 him only the " bolted flour ; " when the youthful, imma- 
 ture pedagogue proposes to make, off-hand, a better 
 book than the trained author with the experience of a 
 life-time ; and when dry skeletons of thought and scraps 
 of facts are presented on the black-board, to take the 
 place of the rounded periods, the clear analysis, and the 
 vivid illustrations of a modern text-book, — then, I say, 
 give me back the paleozoic teacher and the educational 
 methods of a former age ! Knowledge not born of the 
 travail of the soul is useless. The report of the com- 
 mittee on science-teaching, given before the American 
 Association for the Advancement of Science at the 
 session of 1880, well reads: "Where it is all talk and 
 no work, and text-books are filtered through the imper- 
 fect medium of the ordinary teacher's mind, and the 
 pupil has nothing to do but to be instructed, every sound 
 principle of education is violated, and science is only 
 made ridiculous." 
 
 7. "Science," says Professor Cooke, "is noble, be- 
 cause it considers the noblest truth." The grand con- 
 ceptions with which the physicist deals have, aside from 
 their scientific interest, an immense educational value. 
 It is a far nobler work to form character than to impart 
 
 214 
 
History of Science-Teaching 
 
 knowledge ; hence the thoughtful teacher watches every 
 opportunity to exercise this rarest function of his office. 
 To the discerning eye, the physical in nature constantly 
 presses up against the spiritual. How full of meaning is 
 the law of gravitation, the mutual sympathy of sounds 
 and motions, the change of food into flesh, the conser- 
 vation of energy, the adaptation of the eye to light, and 
 the whole range of related facts ! 
 
 When the pupil first discovers that the flavor of an 
 apple reveals the nature of the tiny bud that was put into 
 the stem twenty years before ; when he beholds a lily — 
 fair as the white robes of a saint — growing from the 
 black mud of the swamp ; when he sees a solid crystal 
 building itself up out of a transparent liquid, in exact 
 accordance with the principles of molecular architecture ; 
 when he finds that he cannot succeed in an experiment 
 so long as he varies a hair's breadth from the line of an 
 invisible law ; when he realizes that the force which pulls 
 his arrow to the ground, rounds the orbit of the planet 
 — how naturally, at such pregnant moments, may the 
 thought of pupil and teacher detect the infinite presence, 
 and the mystery of matter culminate in the mystery of 
 God! 
 
 215 
 
STANDARD 
 HISTORIES 
 
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 A text-book for primary and intermediate grades which tells the story of 
 our country in a simple and natural manner. It is carefully graded in its 
 language and its choice of topics, and forms an excellent introduction to 
 the larger history. It is notable for its attractive style ; its ingenious 
 presentation of the philosophy of history ; its references to popular litera- 
 ture, mostly poetical which illustrate and emphasize the story ; and its 
 beautiful illustrations. 
 
 Barnes's Brief History of the United 
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 This book in its present form is entirely new and revised and illustrates the 
 art of book-making at its best. New chapters on civilization, black-board 
 analyses, tables of contemporary European sovereigns have been added, and 
 every part of the work has been enriched by the experience of those who 
 have long used the book. 
 
 It is designed to furnish to pupils of intermediate or grammar grades a 
 brief yet comprehensive and interesting statement of the history of our 
 country. It is charmingly written and is filled with anecdotes of our most 
 famous men. The book is arranged in six epochs, each of which is pre- 
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 Few books have ever met with such a success in the class room as these 
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 I vol. 700 pages. Cloth. 8vo. 300 illustrations. Price, $3.50 
 
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 Dr. Steele prepared this volume to meet the demand for a 
 library edition of his briefer treatise. It possesses the at- 
 tractive literary charm of the smaller book, and contains ad- 
 ditional matter and rearrangement of corresponding matter 
 to adapt it to the needs of the general reader. There are 
 many new illustrations and maps not found in the smaller 
 book. The type is large and legible. It has been con- 
 tinued by the addidon each year of a summary of events, so 
 that it is practically up-to-date at all times. For instance 
 the edition of 1900 contains an account of the Spanish War 
 and the Rebellion in the Philippine Islands, prepared under 
 the direction of Mrs. Steele. 
 
 A copy of this book should prove a welcome addition to any 
 library and will be found of especial interest to the young 
 people. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers, or it will be forwarded to any 
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VL U 1900