I Was Taught The Alphabet By My

Whenever A Total Eclipse Of The Sun Was Visible In An Accessible Region Parties Were Sent Out To Observe It.

When About Fifteen I Once Made A Great Scandal By Taking Out My Knife In Prayer Meeting And Assaulting A Young Man Who, While I Was Kneeling Down During The Prayer, Stood Above Me And Squeezed My Neck.

The Result Was That, If It Happened To Clear Off After A Cloudy Evening, I Frequently Arose From My Bed At Any Hour Of The Night Or Morning And Walked Two Miles To The Observatory To Make Some Observation Included In The Programme.

Until I Was Four Years Old I Lived In The House Of My Paternal Grandfather, About Two Miles From The Pretty Little Village Of Wallace, At The Mouth Of The River Of That Name.

As The Existence Of A Corps Of Professors Of Mathematics Is Peculiar To Our Navy, As Well As An Apparent, Perhaps A Real, Anomaly, Some Account Of It May Be Of Interest.