The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-09-13
! a FAN Us sCoTcHMAN.
John Stuart Blnclkie, the Greek
Scholar and Teacher

his odd habits to wear indoors wide
brirnmed hat, but it is assumed that to
this benefcent shade is due the fact
that his eyesight remains perfect, and
has never required glasses. You can
see him almost any day, striding along
from Douglass resent to Princess
street, or back again, hale as an ath-
lete, hearty as a young hunter. / en-
countered him oneday beating eastward
against a half gale, his cloud Of white
hair tossing about his big brimmed soft
black hat his cheeks rosy with the
winter wind and his kind eyes dancing
with the delight he takes with his IA
vorite walking exercise. It was hard
to believe that he was in his 85th year.
told him how had come across a
book in which it was said that he loves
to play the role Of peripatetic philoso-
pher. How he laughed. do they say
that Of me?'' Ho! no! hov' And then he
trolled i-ti-rumpty -tum,'' snatching
an air, as his habit is, from half-for
gotten song, winding up with a mutter
| Of Greek, looking the while as if he
| were a prophet apostrophizing the
gods. Don't mind the confusion Of
tongues he added. "Greek, Latin,
| Gaelic, English-it's all the same to me.
borrow the phase that comes readiest
for the thought. But Greek is the great
language" ....t5 hi. z
He has been in love with Greek for
more than sixty years; he taught it dur
ing half that time; he knows it as well
as he knows English he reads Greek
newspapers; he has the best Greek IL
brary in the kingdom; and dare say
he dreams in Greek. He had been ex-
tolling the master tongue, and all
things Greek with so much zeal that I
said: ''You talk as if in spirit you were,
more Greek than a Scotchman"
"Not that he half sang the words
| ooh! bonny Scotland for me. A man
should stick to the land where God.
put him" ill.,. .-t
John Stuart Blackie, the son Of q
Scotch banker, was born in Glasgow
eighty-fve years ago. His first school
ing was given him in Aberdeen, TO-
which town his family removed when
he was years of age. At II he enter
ed college, here he remained until he
was Is, when he went to the university
al Edinburg to study under John Will
son ('Christopher North'') At Aber-
deem he had the best grounding in Lat
in that Scotland could give. The Latin
lists of Aberdeen were famous in those
days But in Edinburg young BlaclSie
was more absorbed in introspection
than with classical attainmentS. Re-
ligion and the Bible were his dearest
studies. Strongly equipped in mind
and SOUL he went to- Germany at the
age of 20, and there he was engrossed
in the study Of languages. And there,
~ L, ~ H. - 41,<>
grandest characters of the age. His
strong, grave face lights up now as he
speaks of them: There was Niebuhr,
the biggest man Germany has pro-
duced; and there was Bunsen, the great
est man ever knew for all-round Gull
ture. Bunsen looked like Goethe. I told
him So But Bunsen had sweeter
mouth than Goethe My fathers teach
ing the nature that God gave me, and
Bunsen's influence have been the great
shaping forces Of my life Goethe I
never saw, but I studied him, and
know him. In that German time I
saw and heard many Of the greatest
thinkers. The recommendation Of those
learned German ones procured my ap-
poinH ment as professor of Latin litera-
ture at Aberdeen University. Mean
while, had tried to make living at
the bar, after 'eturning to Scotland I
was called at the age Of rs, but I was
not meant for a lawyer, and I aban-
doned my brief1ess career at the age
Of 80. taught at Aberdeen till 1852,
when I was appointed professor Of
Greek at the University Of Edinburg.
Thirty years later retired from pro
fessorship. This is the story Of my
life Boston Herald.
Our Legs to Vanish.
DR.. Emil Young, professor Of physio-
logy at the University of Geneva, is
in great distress concerning the future
of our legs. He suggests, in an essay
in the Semaine Litteraire, that in
course of thousand years the human
race may have lost the necessity Of the
use Of legs and retain those members
Of the body solely as ornamental sur.
vivals. Men refuse more and more to
walk, though walking is the whole
soonest of physical exercises Steam
/ electricity, the rope railways, tricycles
and bicycles have changed the whole
aspect Of Swiss touring, as he says
in his own generation. Every body
seems anxious to get everywhere any.
way except by the use Of his legs .
In another generation he supposes, our
travelling balloons will hang outside
!, our windows or our electrical coaches
stand outside our doors They will be
produced so cheaply that every man
will have his chariot. Hence our legs
will become superfuous, then they
will be crippled and shrink to hideously
small dimensions until at last tfey
will finally disappear. Our arms, on
the contrary, will CORRESPONDENCE
strengthen and lengthen. while our
legs remain" says DR.. Young, 'let US
march all we can Westminster Ga
zette.
Denominattonal Wealth in America
The wealthiest denomination in the
United States, il we estimate denomi-
national wealth according to the aver
age value Of the church edifces and
sites, is the Jewish. The next is the
VI TTnita Ti9n tho third ic tho ofOrnnad