The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1890-06-06
A NUMERICAL NoMAD.
Names Human Algebra and Arith.
metio Wonder.
A Queer Genius Who for Many Year, u..
Lived on Steady Diet OF FiEurss-Ris
Remarkable lnroads on the Rci.
cncc OF Mathematics.

a Voeef GenIos Who Tor Many Year, Has
Lived on y Steady Diet OF FlKurss-ffls
8smarkablc llroads on the sci.
encc OF Mathematics.
Figures, figures. figures. Such, writes
Biddeford (Mc.) correspondent Of the
New York Herald, has been tho steady
diot of one man in Maine, year in and
year out, for tho past quarter of q cent
ury. Ie is prof" George s. McIntire,
and no ono is better known to the citi-
zens OF Southwestern Maine than this
oft-cncountcrcd person, with his little
tin pail and his armful of books. AL.
most any day. be tho weather what It
may, he may be seen sauntering leisurely
along tho main thoroughfares OF
crouchcd in some hallway upon door.
step absorbed in the ono great work of
his life, mathematics. He is not exactly
an intellectual tramp, but, perhaps,
moro strictly, numerical nomad. His
is life wrapt up in flgurcs-those dry,
abstract things. SO cold, palpable and
undeniablc. Only when delving in
thom Is hts cup OF happiness filled to
the brim. -,
Prof" George S. McIntirc was born
in tho littlo settlement OF North Ken.
nebunkport, Me-, on January 81, 1926.
Ne sprang from good, hardy, Anglo
Saxon stock, and had no not inherited a
constitution OF iron no would never
havc been able to withstand tho ordeal
through which he has passed; for in his
aimlcss ramblcs he has undergone
enough exposures and privations to
knock tho underpinning out OF dozen
human frames. When quito young Nc
Intro vas put at work upon the farm,
and at the age OF sixteen was sent to
the village school. The curriculum OF
the school, which was kept open only
during six weeks in winter, did not soar
higher than tho rudimcntary elements
OF mental arithmetic, and tho tcachcr
was Moses Wilson, long since passed to
tho other shore.
Pcdagoguc Wilson determined to be-
come physician. and on the last day Of
his administration as teacher presented
young McIntire with an old leather
covered algebra. Tho presentation OF
tho old algebra, yellow with age, vet
glowing with truths, marked tho turn
ing point in McIntirc's life. 1t became
the key to all the mans future idiosyn-
crasics. Never before had George seen
book called an algebra, and when ho
took 1T homo no found his parents in
equal ignorance. 1t was beyond them.
Nevertheless, young McIatirc was
soon kneo deep among tho ks, VS. and
z's. 1t seemed strange to him that any
tO,, >1xN<, u, =.
those fragmcntary charactcrs, bIs the
more he thought OF it the moro it inter-
cstcd aim. and Gro long no became
deeply infatuated with tho study. His
parents tried to dissuale him from his
task, but. u:..Mindful of their sugges-
tions, he absorbed chapter after chapter
OF the wonderful book, and neglected
farm WORK as oItcn as nc could steal
away into tho moro scqucstered hooks
OF the forest.
GMclntire remained ON the farm, doing
little e!se chan figuring, until he was
we'll along in years. Once he ran away
/ from homo and secured a job in mill in
Saco, but he did not earn much, and
soon gave up tho undertaking in order
to accept job at painting in big
machine shop in Biddeford. Tho paint
had an ill-ctrect upon his system, and
no wandered up to Buxton, where he
pushed tho shovel and hoe for ono Benia-
min Grant. After month Of this
, drudGcry-for any thing was drudgcry
outside of mathematics for him he re-
4 turned to the old homestead, where he
remained series Of years until his par
cnts died. Then he removed to Biddc-
I ford. some time in tho carly Sixties"
i Soon after McIntirc camc to Biddc-
| ford he went to New York and tool,
! svecrage passage by the Nicaragua route
to San Francisco. On the passage out
I he fell in with o French General who
happened to be on board. and was col
! lege graduate. The man Of Mars OK.
pressed much surprise at Georges re-
,narkable inroads upon the science OF
mathematics, and on one occasion dur
ing z protracted discussion of tho sub.
/ icct, many OF the ships passengers and
crew gathered about tho pair with
mingled feelings of pity and awe.
| While in San Francisco McYntirc
/. sawed wood and did other odd jobs, but
no found it difficult to obtain livcli.
/ hood. Nevertheless, on every pleasant
Sabbath he went to the Lone Mountain
! burial-groundt to dcciphcr the characters
! on the grave-stoncs there, and, by way
OF diversion, to rehearse his mathc-
,natical studies. McIntirc returned
from California by way OF the isthmus
in 1866.
Professor" was the title he now went
by in Maine. So thoroughly absorbed
had he become in tho one study OF his
life that it had taken on q form Of mon
omania. And to-day, outside tho realm
OF figures, all tho world is blank to
him. lledcc!arcs that nc likes tho study
we'll enough to go without his natural
food, and this he has frequently dore. He
has seldom eaten warm meal or slept
in q bed during many years past. Much
of tho time he has slept in barns, some.
times in old carts and not infrcquent-
ly he Mas remained out OF doors al;
night. AT tho present timc he is occu-
pying small room over store in this
city, t.E nothing in the shape Of a bed
stead adorns tho room, the occupant Sc
curing reposc upon an old blanket
thrown upoA the floor. For years McIn-
tire has subsistcd upon milk, bread and
fruit, which ho purchases or bcgs in
small quantities at time, going into
doorway or . livery stable to enjoy