hood is the intervention, constantly and oddly, of the question, what am I to be? asked of the pursuit in which the dreamer is to look for bread and the glory in waiting for him. And if he be bright, brave and gentle withal, ten to one it will be found that the inspiration of the question is a face fairer in his thought than any other face.

It happened that in the town overlooked by Miami University there was an academy for young ladies of which Dr. John W. Scott was manager and president. The fair students were a sparkling feature of the society of the village, and young Harrison was not so ascetically devoted to the Union Literary and making good the favoritism shown him as an orator on occasions as to be blind to the sex. Far from that, he was notoriously diligent in seeking partners for con certs, lectures, picnics and parties.

It also happened that President Scott had a daughter, girlish, intelligent, witty, attractive, in whom the young man quickly discovered all the qualities that entered into the composition of his ideal of a perfect woman. Suddenly he gave up attentions to the gentle patrons of the academy in general, and became more a slave to his books than ever. For a season there was much wonder over the change; at length it was explained-he was engaged to marry Miss Caroline W. Scott, the president's daughter. The contract argues great courage and confidence in his future when

it is remembered that he was poor and just out of the junior class, and but eighteen years of age.

It may be well supposed that the engagement referred to, while operating as an incentive to work, had also the effect to lengthen each college day, making him impatient for the end which the collegiate calendar set down for the 24th of June, 1852.

The graduating class that year consisted of sixteen young men, the names of some of whom have since become of national familiarity. To see yet more clearly the competition which young Harrison found in his classes and literary society, the reader may not be displeased if their names are given entire. The following is the list: John S. Baker, lawyer, Cincinnati, O. John P. Craighead, lawyer, Little Rock, Ark. Isaac S. Lane, lawyer, Memphis, Tenn. Lewis W. Ross, lawyer, Council Bluffs, Ia.*

*The following is from Mr. Lewis W. Ross, now of Council Bluffs, Iowa:

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

Forty years ago the writer met the subject of this paper in Farmer's College, a school of considerable merit, located on one of the hills overlooking the city of Cincinnati. Dr. R. H. Bishop, formerly President of Miami University, was Professor of History and Political Economy. He was an extraordinary teacher. He discipled his students to such an extent as to render it impossible to either forget the man or his instruction. I also met Dr. O. W. Nixon of the Inter-Ocean, Murat Halstead of the Commercial-Gazette, Joseph M. Gregory, a member of the Memphis Bar, and many others who have attained to positions of honor and trust.

After two years of study at Farmer's College, a large delegation, including young Harrison and the writer, entered Miami University, located at

Milton Sayler, lawyer, Cincinnati, O.
Harmer Denny, minister of the gospel.

Oxford, Ohio. We enrolled in the junior class, with at least half of the sophomore year to make up. This implied that we were required to do two and a half years' work within the space of two years, but it was ac complished, and all graduated-a class of fifteen members, on June 24, 1852.

This class varied in worldly wealth and available brains about as other classes have done. David Swing, of Chicago, took second honors, and Milton Saylor, now of New York city, took the first honors. Harrison, in class standing and merit, ranked above the average. Swing was confessedly the best philologist in the class, and during the last year of the course displayed unusual ability. Saylor was gifted in many ways, but lacked application. He has lived the life of a "typical Democrat," serving two terms in Congress. Harrison, as I remember, was an unpretentious but courageous student. He was respectable in languages and the sciences, and excelled in political economy and history, the former being largely due to the foundations laid under the instruction of Dr. Bishop at Farmer's College. Harrison had a good voice and a pure diction. He talked easily and fluently. His manner was indicative of much earnestness of character. He never seemed to regard life as a joke nor the opportunities for advancement as subjects for sport. During the four years that I was with him, he impressed me with the belief that he was ambitious. As a writer and speaker, he always did his best. By this I mean that he, as a rule, made special preparation, giving as much time as possible to the matter in hand. The subject of his graduating address was "The Poor of England," and his treatment of it showed that he had sounded both the depths and the causes of this poverty. He was a protectionist at the age of nineteen. He is protectionist still. His whole career has been illustrative of his desire to save his countrymen from the poverty which oppresses "The Poor of England."

It is claimed by his enemies that Harrison is cold-hearted, that he cultivates but few friends. This is untrue. When a student he had his likes and dislikes. He was not selfish, yet his love of self made him careful of his time and of his reserve powers. Had he been of the rollicking habit of some of his college acquaintances, he would long since have passed over with them. The sober truth is, that in good sense and manly conduct he was as a student without just reproach. From aught that has come to my notice, in later years, I infer that his entire career has been a living exemplification of the principles which governed his student life.

James A. Hughes, minister of the gospel, Somerville, O.

A. C. Junkin, minister of the gospel, West Greenville, Pa.

S. T. Lowerie, minister of the gospel, Pittsburg, Pa.

David Morrow, minister of the gospel, Logansport, Ind.

William H. Prestly, minister of the gospel, Chillicothe, O.

David Swing, minister of the gospel, Chicago, III.

Joseph Walker, minister of the gospel, Muskingum, O.

J. Knox Boude, M. D., Carthage, Ill.

James H. Childs, calling not known, killed at Antietam.

To have become conspicuous in such a class is of itself a high encomium. Young Harrison took fourth honor, which was certainly well done for a boy of but eighteen.

He was just then. He is just now. He was industrious then. He is industrious now. He was ambitious then. He is ambitious still. was and is a commendable ambition, worthy to be patterned by the youth of the country. When in college he gained mental discipline and a genuine love for history and political science. When in Judge Storer's office he read, with other texts, Coke upon Littleton, and so laid deep and solid legal foundations. Thus furnished, his success was assured before entering upon the duties of his profession. On all moral questions he has been fearless for the right. At his country's call he answered, proving his devotion and courage. Among lawyers of national reputation he ranks with the best. Among statesmen he is accorded a high place. He is worthy of the cordial support of Republicans everywhere for the exalted position to which he aspires.

Speeches were part of the commencement exercises then, as now; and in gratification of the curiosity to know something of the boy's graduating oration, an extract is submitted.

After a compliment of poetic turn to heroic England, the speaker said:

Turn, now, and take a glance at modern England, the England of poor laws and paupers. How fares it with the descendants of those noble sires? Do they still preserve the lofty mien, the virtuous courage, the healthful abundance of their ancestors? Can it be that the obsequious pauper, the sturdy beggar, is indeed come of so proud a parentage? Have the swelling tides engulfed this manly race to give place to Eastern slaves? By what process of degeneration, by what system of treachery, by what catalogue of wrongs has this sad change been effected? How has the individual been robbed of his energy, the social circle of its virtue and purity? The common answer is by poor laws.

In the vastness of her commercial projects, the expansive generosity of her foreign charity and the extended field of her missionary efforts, the starving destitution of eight millions of her own subjects is too much forgotten and overlooked. Reversing the old maxim, she seems to think that charity begins abroad and draws freely upon the public exchequer to relieve the miseries of the West India slave, while thousands more miserable cry in vain for substantial relief from the filthy lanes of her own metropolis. As the newspaper giver of the present day bestows liberally to endow widows' homes and orphan asylums while his faithful house-dog is starving in his kennel, so the oil and wine which the British Samaritan poured into the wounds and bruises of the West Indian slave were the marrow and blood of his. own children. . . .

Perhaps the whole annals of legislative history does not furnish us with a system of laws so fully repudiated