St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-10-17

TIE CIT kIH Oh HE sIRAN"Ef' NEW
YORK.
As You 20 up the main street of the
beautiful town of Brattleboro. Yer
mont. YOU will see over the door of Il
small shop sign &c. &. Frost, Boot
and shoe Maker" In passing the shop.
at almost any time of day, you may
see plain looking man. wearing Il
pointed standing collar and black stock
such as were much in fashion Il quar-
ter of century ago. and otherwise
plainly dressed -aS Il mechanic should
he. He will Ice doing one of three
things: attending to customers. mend
ing shoes, OF sitting in Il Boston rock
ing chair. reading or writing. Perhaps
there may he IL fourth thing ma,
bc talking to some village friend or
stranger who has dropped i'll for IL lit
tie chat There i nothing ut all StIik-
inc in his appearance but he was the
man in Bllttlcboro whom particular
IL desired to see. did not venture to
present myself, nor did ! adopt the
roundabout method of cndcavoring to
make an acquaintance by means of Il
little trade. | simply asked another
gentleman to present me to Mr.. {. e..
Frost. When we met, said: Il
wish to know the man who has more
friends among the educated people of
Europe than he has in his native vii
lage."
He smiled, dropped his eyes, and re
piled well, | reckon | have more
friends in Europe than | have i'll Yer
mont
said: Il find that there are pco-
pie in Brattlcboro who know no reason
why should desire to become ac-
quanted with you. but | am sure
there are hundreds of scientific men i'll
various parts of Europe who would
he gratilicd t" have this opportunity
trust my readers will now wish to
know something about this Mr.. Frost
in whom | was interested. He is Il
man who knows more about plants
probably than any one else i'll New
England perhaps in the United States.
He reads scientific books equally well
in four different languages. He has.
besides, Il very great deal of scientific
knowledge beyond botany one de
partmcnt of which hc is an authority
for scientific men on two continents,
perhaps the highest authority since the
death of Rev. DR.. Curtis, of North
Carolina. His knowledge is wide and
accurate. He has habits of the clear
est observation and description. He
has been honorcd 10y being elected Il
member of different scientific societies
in America and Europe. lie did not
tell me all these things. | knew them
but | desired to hear from his own
lips the history of his intelligent prog
ress. 1t was substantially this:
His father WAS shoemaker and was
the first who opened Il store for selling
shoes i'll Brattlcboro. At ten years of
age Young Frost noticed that the older
scholars brought their sums to him to
do" and that in mathematics he was
up to boys who were five wears older
than himself. He did not know what
that meant, but his friends afterwards
told him that they had discovered i'll
L: L. :. 4 1 4.
mathematical genius. When he was
fifteen years of age his father became
poSSeSSor of "IIutton'S Mathematics,
which he had taken for debt from
some West Point student. Young
Frost looked at il with evident delight.
and his father told him it should he
his property if he could read it at
twenty-onc. At nineteen he had mas
tered the whole course. He went into
astronomical mathematics. took up
chemistry, learned very much of nat
Inal sciences i'll every department. and
all the while attended to his business
IS Il shoemaker. From some neglect
of his physical habits he Supelinduccd
mucous dyspepsia. No medical skill
in his ncighholhood seemed able to re
lcvc him. He went to New York to
consult DIR. Willard Parker. While
waiting in the antc-room. he admired in
tcntly Il very handsome boquct of flow
erS on the mantle. and WIS examining
them when the doctor called him III.
DR. Parker camdidly told him that hc
could do nothing for him but, said
the skillful and honest physician, ''you
can do much for yourself. Are You
fond of flowers ,"
Every much 50 indeed" said Mr..
Frost.
"Thcn make it a point t" walk one
hour in the morning and one i'll the
evening looking for flowers
He did so. His health constantly
and rapidly improved. At first he
could hardly keep on his feet during
the hour, but he soon learned to walk
many miles at Il time. His scientific
mind naturally began to study flowers
in their scientific aspects. He began
to Ice IL hotaniSt. He ordered Fries
book from London, and paid twelve
dollars for it. He did not know until
he saw it that il WAS written i'll Latin
of which tongue he was ignorant. lie
went into the village, bought Latin
grammar. devoted himself To the Ian
pnaTe. and in six months cnnll rcHd