The Reminiscences of an Astronomer | Page 3

get him to talk
about it while I am absent."
The time came.
"If you had n't sued me I would have paid you," said the defendant.
On the moment the magistrate stepped from behind a door with the
remark,--
"I think you will pay him now, whether or no."
My father was the most rational and the most dispassionate of men.
The conduct of his life was guided by a philosophy based on Combe's
"Constitution of Man," and I used to feel that the law of the land was a
potent instrument in shaping his paternal affections. His method of
seeking a wife was so far unique that it may not be devoid of interest,
even at this date. From careful study he had learned that the age at
which a man should marry was twenty-five. A healthy and
well-endowed offspring should be one of the main objects in view in
entering the marriage state, and this required a mentally gifted wife.
She must be of different temperament from his own and an economical
housekeeper. So when he found the age of twenty-five approaching, he
began to look about. There was no one in Wallace who satisfied the
requirements. He therefore set out afoot to discover his ideal. In those
days and regions the professional tramp and mendicant were unknown,
and every farmhouse dispensed its hospitality with an Arcadian
simplicity little known in our times. Wherever he stopped overnight he
made a critical investigation of the housekeeping, perhaps rising before
the family for this purpose. He searched in vain until his road carried
him out of the province. One young woman spoiled any possible
chance she might have had by a lack of economy in the making of

bread. She was asked what she did with an unnecessarily large remnant
of dough which she left sticking to the sides of the pan. She replied that
she fed it to the horses. Her case received no further consideration.
The search had extended nearly a hundred miles when, early one
evening, he reached what was then the small village of Moncton. He
was attracted by the strains of music from a church, went into it, and
found a religious meeting in progress. His eye was at once arrested by
the face and head of a young woman playing on a melodeon, who was
leading the singing. He sat in such a position that he could carefully
scan her face and movements. As he continued this study the
conviction grew upon him that here was the object of his search. That
such should have occurred before there was any opportunity to inspect
the doughpan may lead the reader to conclusions of his own. He
inquired her name--Emily Prince. He cultivated her acquaintance, paid
his addresses, and was accepted. He was fond of astronomy, and during
the months of his engagement one of his favorite occupations was to
take her out of an evening and show her the constellations. It is even
said that, among the daydreams in which they indulged, one was that
their firstborn might be an astronomer. Probably this was only a
passing fancy, as I heard nothing of it during my childhood. The
marriage was in all respects a happy one, so far as congeniality of
nature and mutual regard could go. Although the wife died at the early
age of thirty-seven, the husband never ceased to cherish her memory,
and, so far as I am aware, never again thought of marrying.
My mother was the most profoundly and sincerely religious woman
with whom I was ever intimately acquainted, and my father always
entertained and expressed the highest admiration for her mental gifts, to
which he attributed whatever talents his children might have possessed.
The unfitness of her environment to her constitution is the saddest
memory of my childhood. More I do not trust myself to say to the
public, nor will the reader expect more of me.
My father followed, during most of his life, the precarious occupation
of a country school teacher. It was then, as it still is in many thinly
settled parts of the country, an almost nomadic profession, a teacher

seldom remaining more than one or two years in the same place. Thus
it happened that, during the first fifteen years of my life, movings were
frequent. My father tried his fortune in a number of places, both in
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Our lot was made harder by the
fact that his ideas of education did not coincide with those prevalent in
the communities where he taught. He was a disciple and admirer of
William Cobbett, and though he did not run so far counter to the ideas
of his patrons as to teach Cobbett's grammar at school, he always
recommended it to