BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DAVID PERKINS PAGE. Taken from Barnard's Journal of Education. MONG the self-educated teachers of our time, the men AM made" teachers, and in whom the instinct for knowledge, and for imparting it to others, was sufficiently strong to overpower all obstacles and carry them to the highest eminence in their profession, there are none who have excelled the subject of this brief memoir. DAVID PERKINS PAGE was born at Epping, New Hampshire, on the 4th of July, 1810. His father was a prosperous, though not an affluent farmer, and his early life was passed as a farmer's boy, with that scant dole of instruction which, forty years ago, fell to the lot of farmers' sons in small country villages in New Hampshire, or, for that matter, anywhere in New England. From his earliest years, however, the love of books was the master-passion of his soul, and in his childhood he plead often and earnestly with his father for the privilege of attending an academy in a neighboring town, but the father was inexorable; he had determined that David should succeed him in the management of the farm, and he did not consider an academical education necessary for this. His refusal doubtless exerted a good influence on his son; for a mind so active as his, if denied the advantages of the school, must find vent in some exercise, and the admirable illustrations he drew from nature, so often, to embellish and enforce his instructions in after years, showed conclusively that at this period of his life, the pages of the wondrous book of nature had been wide open before him, even though his father's fiat had deprived him of other sources of information. But He who guides the steps of his creatures had provided a way for the gratification of the thirst for knowledge which was consuming the farmer's boy, and that by what seemed an untoward Providence. At the age of sixteen, he was brought to the borders of the grave by a severe illness; for a long time he lingered between life and death; and, while in this condition, his friends despairing of his recovery, and his father, whose heart yearned over him, watching his enfeebled frame, seemingly nigh to dissolution, the apparently dying boy turned his large, full eyes upon his father's face, and, in an almost inaudible whisper, begged that if he recovered, he might be allowed to go to Hampton Academy and prepare to become a teacher. Was not this, indeed, an example of "the ruling passion strong in death"? The father could not refuse the request proffered at such a time; what father could? The boy did recover, and he did go to the academy, a plain farmer's boy: he dressed in plain farmer's clothes, and hence, some self-conceited puppies, whose more fashionable exterior could not hide the meanness of their souls, deemed him fit subject for their gibes and sneers; but his earnest nature and his intense love of study were not to be thwarted by such rebuffs; he pursued the even tenor of his way, and, having spent some months at the academy, he taught a district school for the ensuing winter, and then returned again to the academy. Here his progress in study was rapid; but, the ensuing winter, we find him again teaching in his native town, and his further studies were prosecuted without assistance. The next winter, he had determined to make teaching a profession, and accordingly, having taught a district school at Newbury, Mass., during the winter, at its close he opened a private school: a daring step for a young man but nineteen years of age, and who had enjoyed so few advantages of education. The success which followed fully justified the self-reliance which led him to attempt it. At the beginning he had five pupils, but he persevered, and before the close of the term, the number he had contemplated was full. Here, as every-where else, during his career as a teacher, was manifested that diligence, industry, and careful preparation for his duties, which made him so eminently successful. He studied the lessons he was to teach, thoroughly, that he might impart instruction with that freshness and interest which such study would give; he studied his scholars thoroughly, that he might adapt his teachings to their several capacities, encouraging the diffident and sluggish, restraining the froward, and rousing the listless and careless to unwonted interest and energy; he studied, too, their moral natures, and sought to rouse in their youthful hearts aspirations for goodness and purity; and he studied whatever would enlarge his sphere of thought, intelligence, and usefulness. Such a teacher was sure to rise in reputation,-slowly, perhaps, but certainly; and hence it need not surprise us to learn that within two years he was associate principal of the Newburyport High School, having charge of the English department. Here, for twelve years, he was associated with Roger S. Howard, Esq., one of the most eminent teachers in Massachusetts, and how well he fulfilled his duties, Mr. Howard, who survived him, testifies. The same intense fondness for study characterized him, leading him to acquire a very competent knowledge of the Latin language, and something of the Greek; that same earnest and conscientious performance of all his school duties, and delight in them, were manifested here as in his humbler position. It was while occupying this post, that he first began to come before the public as a lecturer. He was an active and prominent member of the Essex County Teachers' Association, one of the most efficient educational organizations in Massachusetts, and delivered before that body several lectures which Hon. Horace Mann characterized as the best ever delivered before that or any other body. Of one of these, on "The Mutual Duties of Parents and Teachers," six |