in
session at Gouverneur, it having opened upon the twenty-seventh instant.
The School Commissioners are Mr. C. C. Church and Allen Wight. I am
highly pleased with the proceedings and the method of conducting the
exercises of this apparently indispensable part of a Teacher's
instruction,"--adding that it was his "intention to become a teacher the
coming winter." Indeed, to be a teacher seems to have been his favorite
scheme of life, and his highest ambition was ultimately to fill the
chair of Mathematics in one of the great institutions of learning. That
most exact of sciences was his favorite branch of study, and the
intellectual stimulus which it imparts had for him a peculiar
fascination.

In pursuance of his object, and in order, by teaching during one part of
the year, to raise means to enable him to attend school during another
portion, he set about procuring for himself a school. Fortunately for
the accomplishment of his object, it was suggested to him to apply to
the School Commissioner of his own Assembly district, and he did so. The
examination which followed his application, owing to some local rivalry,
was extremely rigid; but he passed through it with great credit and
received the appointment he desired, being assigned forthwith to duty in
the town of Edwards, St. Lawrence County. He commenced teaching in the
bleak month of November, 1858, and was very earnest in fulfilling the
duties of his position, taking every opportunity not only of instilling
knowledge into the minds of his pupils, but also striving to imbue them
with a love of self-culture. He labored hard in his efforts to earn
means with which to support himself during the coming summer at the
Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, and discovered while thus working that
teaching was as much of a discipline for himself as for his pupils.

The time does not seem to have passed unpleasantly to him at this period
of his career, for in an entry made in his diary on the twenty-eighth of
November, 1858, he says:

"I am spending the evening with Mr. Hiram Harris and family, having come
into the district this afternoon. My mission here is to teach school for
a term of three months in fulfilment of the contract existing between
the trustees and myself. In compliance with a custom that prevails, I am
expected to 'board around,' as it is styled, and Mr. Harris, being one
of the Trustees, has invited me to spend my first week at his house.

"The School Commissioner