The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-10-10
SIR ISAAC SEWFoSs SCHOOL AND cOLLLGE
DAYS.
Irrou NJ. ra.b.l. ssAoal p.y. q EH.Iasal llsal

Prom Mr.. nuabs's school Days q RHlasal Asnl
The childhood and education OF that master mind
which, by the establishment Of the theory OF grsytaton
hnmortalized his and pepetnated the intellectual
glory OF his country next demand our atention. Isaac
Newton born In l642 in the Manorhouse OF Wools
thorpe close the village Of colsterworth, about six
miles south OF Grantham, in Lincolnshire. He Was
posthumous child, and was Of such dlminuuye size
when born that he might have been put into quart
mug. At the usual age he sent 20 two small day
ochoos st Skngton and Stoke two haiets near Wools
thorpe, and here he taught reading, writing, and
arithmetic At tho age Of twelve he was sent 70 the
grammar school at GranthaIn- According TO his own
confession Newton was extremely inattentiye to his
studies. and stood very low in the school when he
was last In tho owemost form but one the boy above
him. as they weTe going 10 school, kicked him ON the
stomach Newton subsequently, challenged the boy to
fight the combat took place In the churehyari and
Newton the victor his antagonist stiil stood above
him In the form, until. after many severe struggle
Newton not only gained the individual victory but rose
10 the highest place In the school
Newton had not been long al school before he exhibit
cd for mechanical inventions. With the aid OF
little saws hammers hatchets and other TOOLS during
his play hours he constructed models Of known
chimes and amusing contriyances as windmill,
waterclock and carriage TO DO moved by the person
who sat in it and by watching the workmen In erecting
windmill Grantharn, Newton acquired such know
ledge its mechanism that hs completed large work
ing model of it, which frequently placed upon the
top Of the house in which Newton lived at Grantham,
and put in motion by the action of the wind upon its
lent and thinking lad who never took part In the
games his schoorlows but employed all his leisure
hours in knocking and hammering In his lodging
room" yet he occasionally taught the boys to play
philosophcally." He introduced the flying of paper
kites and is said to have investigated their best forms
and proportions well the number and position of
the points which the string should be attached He
constructed also lanterns of crmped paper, in which
he placed candle, to light him to school in the dark
winter mornings and in dark nights he tied them to
the tails Of his kites which the terrified country people
took for comets.
Meanwhile In the ward Of the house where he lived
Newton frequently observed to watch the motion Of
the sun he drove wooden pegs into the walls and roofs
of the buildings gnomons, to mark by their shadows
the hours and half hours of the day IL does not appear
that he knew how to adjust these lines to the latitude OF
GrantEan but he il said to succeeded after
years observation In making them exact that any
body could tell what O'Clock it was by Iacs DIAL
called and probably about this time he caryci two
dls the walls of his own house at NoosthoTpc one
Of which is in the Of the Royal Society.
Newton also became expert with his pencil his room
furnished with pictures, drawn some from prints,
and others from life, in frames made by himself among
the portraits several Of the Kings heads DIR.
Donne Mr. Stokes, his teacher at Grahtham and King
Charles also drawings of birs. beasts, men, ships,
and mathematical diagrams, executed with charcoal
the walls which remained till the house pulled down
in III1' Although Newton stated that he .excelled
particularly in making verses authentic specimen of
his poetry has been preserved and in latter days he often
expressed dislike for poetry During the seven years
WHICH ne spent IN
fellows he preferred that of the young ladies who lived
the house, and he often made little tables, cup
boards &C. for them TO set their dolls and nkes upon
One of these ladies, when she hsi reached the age of
cghtytwo confessed that Newton had been in love with
her, but that smaness of income prevented their
riage. "@
When Newton had reached his fifteenth year he
called from the school at Grantham to take charge of his
mothers farm he thus frequently sent to Grantham
market dispose of grain and other agricultural pro-
duce which, however he generally left to old farm
servant who accompanied him. and Newton made his way
to the garre of the house where he had lived to amuse
himself with parcel of old books left there and after
wards he would entrench himself the waysde between
Woosthorpe and Granthan, deyouring favorite
thor till his companions return from market. And
when his mother sent him into the fields to watch the
sheep and cattle he would perch himself under tree.
with book in his hand, shaping models with his
knife watching the movements of an undershot water
wheel One of the earliest scientific experiments which
Newton made in 1885, the day of the great storm,
when Cromwell died, and when he himself had just en-
tered his sixteenth year.
Newton's mother now convinced that her son
not destined to be farmer; and this, with his uncle
finding him under hedge occupied in the solution of
mathematical problem, let to his being agan sent
Grantham school, and then to Trinity College, Cambridge
which thence became the real birthplace of Newtous
genius We have not space to detail how he mastered
Sandersons Logic and kepers Optics before he attend
ed his tutor lectures upon those works. how he bought
book of Judicial Astrology at Stourbrdge Fair and to
understand its ugonometry, purchased an English Eu
clid which he soon threw aside Tor Descarte GeomeTy
his ong-continued observations upon comet in 1864
his first discovery of uxions in 1865, his first study Of
gravity suggested to him by the fall OF apple from
tree while sitting in his garden at Woolshorpe; his pur
chase OF glass prism at Stourbrdge Fair: his first app
cation optical discoveries his construction OF telescopes
Sc These particulars of Newtons early years have been
abridged frsm Sir David Brcwsters enlarged life Of the
great philosopher.
But cannot leave him without remarking that late
in lfe ascrbing whatever he had accomplished the
effect Of patient and continuous thought rather than to
any peculiar genius with which nature had endowed him.
be looked upon himself and his labors in very different
light from that in which he and they regarded by
mankind 80 i know not, he remarked short time be-
fore his DEATH what may appear the world. but to
myself to have been only like boy playing on
the sea shore and dverting myself and then finding
smoother peide prettier shell than ordinary, whilst
the great Of truth lay all undiscovered before
How touching is this Of humility and contrast Of
the lttleness OF human knowledge with the extent of
human ignorancei
THE BALLOON RACE-DAY FIXED And
TERMS AGREED UPON