The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-05-11

those of the subject and the author
Matthew Simpson, as ne tells us In an auto
biographical fragment was born In 1911 at
Cadz, the county seat OF Harrison county, Ohio
a town not far in northwest direction from
Wheeling West Virginia His paternal grand
father, Thomas Simpson. had been q common
soldier in n dragon regiment, who emigrated
from England to Tyrone county Ireland and
died there in middle life. Thomas Simpson
LETT widow and six children. who In 1898 left
ireland Tor the United States, and finally set
tied in western Pennsylvania and Ohio two OF
the sons. James and Matthew. starting the
business Of manufacturing weavers' reeds at
Cadiz Mrs. Simpson had brought up her
family in the Presbyterian faith. but shortly
before leaving Ireland she was herself con-
rerted to Methodism by John Wesley Her son
James married Sarah Tingley the daughter OF
q Revolutionary soldier. who had been brought
up n Baptist, but some years before her mar
riage also became a Methodist OF their three
children Matthew. the youngest. was born
only n year before his fathers death, and was
reared in Methodi-m from infancy under the
influence OF his mother and grandmother. He
was Il remarkable example of precocious in
telicctual development under adverse circum-
stances. there being at the time no public
school ~ stem in Ohio, and his relatives being
too poor t. Civ" him anv educational advan-
taGe~. Without apparently, receiving any en-
CourAgem"nt from his family he had taught
himself to read nj 3 wears OF ago and before he
WAS mad nude himself conyersant with the
elements OF arithmetic. He subsequently at
tended school FOR three short periods ac-
Quirng there the rudiments Of grammar and
geography but this WAS all the tuition he re-
rai al until l,, M tn lanrn
the clnssc languages. When lie was n mere
boz, worn on ~!lrS eyinS, embracing the ee
meutS Of Grnme +" and trgonometry. fell into
Is hanlS m | Was mastered without a teacher.
though not without occasional suggestions
fom his unc!r Matthew who WAS a good
ma homati,.ian aud in other ways sufficiently
cdrcaie 10 keep 1T lute- period n private
- oUl Nhen about = years OF age the future
BISHOP undertpo Ok to study German. and. with
the a ii o m Cd jr,rmau grammar. but without
tie assistance of II dictionary. managed to
read the German Bible. OF which his uncle pos
sossed n cory. lie tells us that in family wor
ship every morning no was expected to read
tho German teAt while his uncle or his mother
read the English and to note whatever differ
care- were disclosed. He had also. 1t seems.
access 10 pubic library in Cadiz. and was
Thereby enabled to read while he was between
: and ! years of age. n large number OF vol |
umrs dealing with history. biography, and |
tra:"ls. Ia perusnc these works he encoun |
tered GUOratons from the Latin and Greek. and |
was thus imneliel to gain some knowledge OF |
those Ynngua.es Wien between ii and ~ |
years Id, h" obtained permission from two !
young men studying at the Cadz Academy to |
use some Of their classical text books and he |
was allowed BY his uncle to spond his spare
tine in study on condition Of his first doing
hall II mans work in the shop. Under these cir
cumsances he gained a sufficient acquaintance
with The Latin grammar and vocabulary to
road four books OF CTsar and large part OF
Sa lust's "Catiline." His uncle. on his return
from IL four months journey was so surprised
to find him able to read Latin easily that. nj
though he could II! afford it. he arranged for
the boys attendance at the academy for a year
and a half Here. besides reading about as
much Latin as then constituted an undergrad
uate course in the smaller colleges. he studied
the Greek grammar and read the compilations
known As tho :" GrTca Minora" and "GrRca
Malora," together with Il great many books OF
Homer. To appreciate this performance. We
must call to mind that In the Greek lexicon at
his disposal Greek words were translated not
into English but into Latin. Before no was
- young Simpson had to go back to the shop
but in such moments OF leisure as he could OBJ
tain continued the work OF self-education.
studying Algebra. French. Spanish. Italian.
botany. chemistry. and geology. He also be-
gan mt this time the study OF Hebrew.
BESIDES manufacturing wesvers' reeds Mat
thew Simpson the elder was County Clerk.
and when his nephew was Is years old he es-
sayeI TO add to his income by opening a pri-
vate school. In his absence the entire manage
mont OF the school fell on young Simpson. who
also assisted his uncle in making up the court
records rs we'll as in the SHOP. These occupa-
tons left him but little time for study. and he
was glad. therefore. in 1913 when he was IL to
accept the oler OF the post OF assistant teacher
In small Methodist college at Uniontown, Pa.
How straitcned his means were at this time