I also learned a valuable lesson at Hampton by coming into
contact with the best breeds of live stock and fowls. No student,
I think, who has had the opportunity of doing this could go out
into the world and content himself with the poorest grades.
Perhaps the most valuable thing that I got out of my second year
was an understanding of the use and value of the Bible. Miss
Nathalie Lord, one of the teachers, from Portland, Me., taught me
how to use and love the Bible. Before this I had never cared a
great deal about it, but now I learned to love to read the Bible,
not only for the spiritual help which it gives, but on account of
it as literature. The lessons taught me in this respect took such
a hold upon me that at the present time, when I am at home, no
matter how busy I am, I always make it a rule to read a chapter
or a portion of a chapter in the morning, before beginning the
work of the day.
Whatever ability I may have as a public speaker I owe in a
measure to Miss Lord. When she found out that I had some
inclination in this direction, she gave me private lessons in the
matter of breathing, emphasis, and articulation. Simply to be
able to talk in public for the sake of talking has never had the
least attraction to me. In fact, I consider that there is nothing
so empty and unsatisfactory as mere abstract public speaking; but
from my early childhood I have had a desire to do something to
make the world better, and then to be able to speak to the world
about that thing.
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