Harvard memorial biographies ...

296

Harvard Memorial Biographies.

of the ladder and live with great economy. His chief pleasures were, as before, reading the classics, studying languages,
and practising gymnastics. In the last he was very proficient.
He writes: "I ended up a coil of rope weighing nine hundred
and four pounds a day or two ago..... I have at last
learned to pull myself up with one arm, hanging perfectly
taught, and starting with a little jerk."
After he had remained at Chicago nearly two years, he expressed to his brother a strong desire to return and finish his
education; and his parents, on hearing of it, immediately recalled him. This was in December, 1860, and he could not
be examined until the following summer. He told his friends
that he meant to enter as a Junior, but he had secretly resolved to rejoin his own Class, from which he had been absent
two years. He studied by himself, and on returning from the
examination he surprised and pleased his mother by saying, in
his playful way, " Mother, the Faculty and I have concluded
that it is not worth my while to stay more than a year in College, so I entered Senior, and without conditions." He did
not study for rank, but preferred to devote himself to whatever
he thought he most needed. His faculty for learning languages was rather remarkable. Latin was a passion with him.
He received a prize at college as at school for verses in that
language. He was continually making Latin verses in playing
upon words, and in the outset of the national struggle his secedere est se cedere found its way into many of the newspapers.
One day he surprised his mother by asking for a copy of
Dante, as she knew he had never studied Italian. He said he
did not altogether like the less advanced class, and intended
to join one which was studying that book. His mother expressed her doubts of his ability to learn the lessons, but
fbund that, with very slight assistance at first, he was able to
do so. He was a very good French scholar, and had given
some attention to German and Spanish, which last studies he
continued while in the army.
In the beginning of the war Arthur had expressed a
strong desire to go with his companions to the defence of