Daily Republican., 1879-03-14
The Learned BIacksmith.

The Learned Blacksmith.
The Chicago "Tribune," in recen,
issue says:
The late Mr.. Burritt had relatives in
this city-a sister, Mrs. Eunice B. Saw
yer, wife of Professor A. J. Sawyer,
formerly of the Chicago University, and
a niece, Mrs. Anna B. Geddings. Mrs.
Sawyer was next in age to Elihu, and
Mrs. Geddings was daughter of Elihu's
brother, Elijah, distinguished as an
astronomer. or, more especially, as the
author of Burri.t's Geography of the
Heavens. which was used more than
thirty years as a textbook in most of
the female seminaries in the country
A representative Of this paper called
upon Professor and Mrs Sawyer and
Mrs. Geddings at their home, No. 4Os
Vernon avenue, last evening, and OBJ.
tanned from them much that is not con.
tanned in the above biography, in the
nature of incidents of Mr.. ..Burritt's life,
estimates of his character AID talents,
all of which would naturally be remem-
bered ty and come from those who
knew him best and who were most
deeply attached to him.
Mrs. Sawyer, in referring to her
brothers. early years, and the eviden-
ces of youthful precocity which mark
ed that period of his life, spoke of his
astonishing feats in mental arithmetic,
for which hs first evinced liking simi-
lar in its intensity to that afterwards
bestowed upon linguistic pursuits.
Often and often would he figure ur in
his head how many seconds old he was,
and, with youthful pride, inform his
elders Of the result. He would also
calculate mentally how many yards of
cloth it would take - reach from the
earth to the sun, the number of barley
corns it would require to reach around
the world, and other curious and, for
his age rather puzzlins problems.
When, later on he worked at the smok-
ing forge, he made systematic divi-
sion Of the day, and adhered to it for
years.
Eight hours were devoted to study,
eight to sleep and eight to work, and
even then it was his wont to have an
old Greek grammar near him during
his labors in the shop and to conjugate
those fearful and wonderful Greek
yer bs which have proved the bane of
many college boy. While the iron
was reddening in the Goals, he would
refer to the -begrimed old text.
book, and, between the sturdy strokes
of his hammer on the iron as it lay on
the anvil, he would 80 through with
his conjugation Of the stubborn word.
The incident related o. him in the
above biography of his letter to the
Royal Antiquarian Society in the Gel
to-Breton language was characteristics.
Previously ignorant OF that strange
tongue, he concluded that it would BE-
a fine thing to write such oomrnuni-
cation, and with him to will was to do,
and it was only question of time
brief at that for him to acquire the
language and iudite the celebrated let
ter.
His industry, his intence application
to given pursuit, was phenomenal.
1t was his habit, as Mrs. Sawyer AID
Mrs. Geddings state, to regularly take
what he called Sabbath-day's journey,
viz: selecting a chapter in the Bible
and reading it in twenty different Ian
guages, or, as he expressed it, travel
ing from Iceland to Hindostan. In later
years, when his fame was spread
abroad, it was the fashion with a Ger.
class Of critics to say that, learned as
he was, he could not converse in the
tongues which he professed to have at
his command. 1t was sufficient an
swer to this wonderous discovery to
say that he will never profess to con-
verse in these different languages, but
simply to be able-as he was--to read
and translate them.
Speaking further of his ling 1istic
talents, his sister recalled an incident
which is of considerable interest in this
connection. Some years ago a will was
sent to this country from the West In
dies written in Danish. The manuscript
was one of the most difficult to deci-
pher that could well be imagined, and
it went the rounds of several of the
leading colleges without meeting with
anybody who could "solve the riddle
and give TIE Interpretation thereof
Finally it was referred to Mr.. Bur-
ritt. He was then working at the forge,
but, with his usual determination, he
made up his mind that he would mas
ter it. He was then acquainted with
the Danish tongue, but that was only
half the task The badly written man
uscript must be deciphered. He work.
ed at it two weeks, employing his
spare time, and success crowned his
efforts in field where all before him
had failed. When he sent the will
back, translated with absolute correct
ness, he said he would only charge the
gentleman who had assigned him the
task Of interpreting it just what he
would have earned at the forge in the
time bestowed upon the translation.
His linguistic accomplishments,
briefly stated, made him master of fifty
two Languages and dialects.
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for tho worlds Cham