The New York herald., 1879-03-08
OBITUARY.

ELIHU BURRITT, THE LEARNED BLACKSMITH"
Ehu Burritt. celebrated u self-educated philol.
ogist and o reformer and journalist. died at New
Britain Conn.,. early yesterday morning. after .
brief Illness He was the of shoemaker and
the youngest of ten children His father and grand
father had both served in the of the Revolution
and were of Scottish descent. Born ut New Britain
December 8. 1910. Eihu received the ordinary
ton of q country school, and the death OF his
father apprenticed to blacksmith at the age of
sixteen years. The incentive to the study OF lam
guages the desire to read the Bible in the origi-
nal languages. An elder brother. Elijah. kept
boarding school at New Britain and to him Elihu
much indebted for encouragement and assist
in his self-imposed task. He did not neglect his
mechanical profession. but became in three years
one Of the most expert blacksmths in
the State of Connecticut. He was endowed
with high mathematical ability. and while at work
at the bellows Would extemporize difficult problems.
carrying the solutions in his memory until he could
verify their correctness by consultation with his
brother. He received some instruction in French.
Latin and Greek in his brothers school, and then
moved to New Haven to enjoy the advantages deriv-
able from the vicinity Of Yale College. He would
not however. ask assistance from any professor and
when twenty-five years of age undertook
pertinent to read the Iliad without note comment
and with only Greek.L Latin dictionary. Beginning
with fifteen lines day. he made rapid progress
and completed the book. He then abandoned his
trade. for time becoming school teacher and sub
sequently embarked in mercantile business. Losing
his small accumulations in the financial crisis of
1887, he went to Worcester. Mass, without dollar
in the world and resumed his mechanical avocation.
Becoming acquainted with the linguistic treas
urss OF s;., the library . OF the American Anti
and other kindred languages. well those
Of the Latin and Semitic groups, and turned his
Rafu's work on the discovery OF America by the
Norsemen had recently appeared. and exciting
much attention. Burrtt translated from the lee
landc the passages relating to America and rst be-
came known beyond limited circle By that achieve
ment II was in 1s4O when above twcnty-eight years
of age. that his first attracted public attention
He wrote to William s. Lincoln. of Worcester. let
ter soliciting his aid in obtaining work translator
occupation and the considerable list of languages OF
which he had gained some knowledge. The letter
communicated to Edward Everett then Cover
OF Massachusetts,. and by him read to q meeting
of workngmen as an example uf success ul selfh help
He was promptly named ''the learned blacksmith"
and exaggerated accounts OF his proficiency
circulated. the usual version being that he
knew forty languages OF course this number was
far in excess OF the fact. and even OF the smaller
number of languages really studied Mr.. Burritt
never acquired an accurate knowledge of more than
eight or ten. On the invitation of his newly found
admirers Mr. Burritt prepared alccturc to prove that
all knowledge can be achieved by downright hard
work. without the aid of genius. This lecture was
a.
mond. Va. in ls4l. subsequently Mr.. Durrtt be-
came ambitious OF public career Of another kind.
and in 1914 established weekly newspaper at Wor-
cester--the Christidn Csendevotcd TO the advocacy
of peace temperance, self-culturc and the abolition
of slavery In ls46 he went to Europe to labor for
universal peace promoted there the foundation OF
League OF Universal Brotherhood and edited for
short time paper called the Peace fdrocafe. He
active in organizing the first Universal Peace Con-
gress Of 1s4s, and present those of 1S49 and
1850, but the Congress found invincblc obstacles in
it's cndeavor to settle questions such that of
No Va Vip-Ii n Iip al
In Lngland three volumcs-'Sparks from the
Anvil (is4s) miscellaneous Writings" 1s5O) and
"Olivc Leaves Qs53) Returning TO America IN 1852
he settled ut Philadclpha editor the Citizen Of
he World In which ne advocated a scheme OF COM
pensated abolition of slavery. This project had
gained some popularity when the John Brown raid
extinguishcd its possibilities of success. At this
time Mr.. Burritt living sixteen cents day.
and had not Accumulated dollar by his long career
OF phiiantnropc labor, lie was painfully anee'ed
the civil war; when he retired to the small farm he
owned at his native place. In 1868 he visited Eng
land and he was appointed Consul at Birmingham in
1865, holding that post until 1870 when he finally
settled down in New Britain. He published in 1904
Thoughts and Things at Home aud Abroad, in 1865
"A Walk from John o. Groat's 10 the Lands End"
In 1869 q collection of his Lectures and Speeches"
and more recently ''Tcn Minutes Talk ON All
Sorts of Topics" "Chips from Many Blocks" tls7s)
and an elementary ''sanskrit Grammar" Mr.. Burritt
was one of the early advocates ot cheap post
age, aud to the end of his life indefatgable in
promoting various missionary and philanthrcpic
schemes. lie prepared manuals of the Hindostani
Persian anu Turkish languages. aud intended to pre-
pare Others upon the Semitic languages, but of
them have been printed aud IL is not Mt all probable
that they will be. In truth. Mr.. Burritt though
knowing something of many languages. not
comparative philologist, and his linguistic publiea-
should rather be considered arcnt and
effective though somewhat eccentric and visionary.
rcformer and phianthropist. His literary style was
not polished and the sum original creative work
which he did extremely limited. While he will
not he accorded the fspie OF prodigy of learning or