He
died a few years after his admission to the Bar. But he had
already given proof that he would, if he had lived, have taken
rank among the foremost at the Bar in Massachusetts.
Before entering college I was for about six months a pupil
of Mrs. Sarah Ripley of Waltham. She removed to Concord with
her husband afterward. She was one of the most wonderful
scholars of her time, or indeed of any time. President Everett
said she could fill any professor's chair at Harvard. She
was an admirable mathematician. She read the "Mecanique Celeste"
of Laplace in the original without the aid of Dr. Bowditch's
translation. She was a fine German and Italian scholar. She
had a great fondness for Greek literature, especially for
Plato and AEschylus. She was an accomplished naturalist.
She was simple as a child, an admirable wife and mother, performing
perfectly all the commonest duties of the household. The
authorities of Harvard used to send boys to her who were rusticated
for some offence. She would keep them along in all their
studies, in most cases better instructed than they would have
been if they had stayed in Cambridge.
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