ticularly anxious to get some likeness of Mills, with the intention, I think, of securing a satisfactory painting for the society. His search was unsuccessful, but it deserved success. He wrote letters and took long journeys on foot, visiting the places where Mills had lived, hunted for his relations and friends, and did not give over till he had tried all possible measures. In all of these labors he seemed wholly absorbed in the immediate ends proposed, singularly forgetful either of good or of honor for himself. He was surprised when elected president of the society, pleased chiefly because of the appreciation manifest in the election, and anxious lest the feelings of others should be hurt by his promotion. Indeed, it was the same in all the societies which he served in college; he never seemed to seek office or personal distinction. His labors had no concealed end in his own glory.

Nor was his zeal for missions confined to the Mills Society. He recognized then, as more fully afterward, the value of personal influence in these matters. He did not leave the truth to find its way to the hearts of men; he carried it himself and presented it to them. His own plans were so definitely formed, his conviction. of duty so firm, that he was somewhat impatient of the slower decisions of others. It was so plain to him he would make it plain to them. Although several of his class and associates afterward became foreign missionaries, yet he was the only one I am told, of those who then expressed an intention to engage in this occupation, who ever entered a foreign field. He was toasted at the farewell class-supper as the missionary to India: that was his distinction. Indeed, it was impos

sible for him to conceal a purpose so mastering; any one who liked could see how much he meant.

With all this active zeal for the missionary cause, there was kept up a careful preparation of himself for the work which he had undertaken. Aside from his regular studies, the pursuit of which received also an impulse from a consideration of their bearing upon his profession, his elective study and reading looked in this direction; yet, from the outset, his catholicity of nature led him to take a wide and profound view of what constituted intellectual preparation for his work. His desire for a positive object had led him to choose not merely serving Christ, but serving him as a missionary; not as a missionary merely, but as a missionary in India; nor even there did he pause, but he chose the very district of India in which he should establish himself; thus only could he satisfy his nature. So also in study, his guiding thought was not for improvement of his mind as a disciple of Christ, but running through general purposes, he came quickly to the special purpose of becoming acquainted with India, and minutely of that section which was to be his home. But as his instinct for special ends in life did not belittle his more comprehensive purpose of serving the Lord with body, mind, and soul, so neither did his demand for special preparation induce a narrow estimate of what constituted that preparation. He believed in the largest culture as essential to the most effective minute labor of the missionary. His tastes and interests were of so wide a range, that he could not become narrow-minded so long as he permitted them to indicate the direction of his studies. He governed the extent rather than the kind of his pur

suits, displaying good judgment in knowing where to stop. He never forgot his purpose, but he did not force all studies and plans to do the bidding of that ruling purpose; rather that purpose was so much his entire life, and he was so hearty and natural, that all effort was inspired by his Christian and missionary zeal.

The Rev. H. R. Hoisington, formerly at the head of the Batticotta School in Ceylon, was at this time occupying the pulpit at Williamstown, having been compelled to return to this country on account of ill health. It was a most fortunate thing for David that, at the beginning of his missionary studies, he should have had the advice and assistance of one so calculated every way to assist him. Mr. Hoisington was an admirable Tamil scholar, and, at his suggestion, David commenced the study of the language as by-work, at first only familiarizing himself with the vocables, and then going further and further, with an untiring zeal which seemed in no way to be weakened by the unavoidable breaks in the course of study. I do not think that the difficulty of the language ever seriously disconcerted him. He took it as a matter of course that he would have to master it; he must learn Tamil at some time, it were better if he could know something of it before going to India; and here was the opportunity. After he had begun upon it, there was no thought of relinquishing it; he was not in the habit of torturing himself with the objections which one may so easily call up, after he has made a decision. His ease in acquiring language and his humor for airing strange words gave some zest to the pursuit.

"While it certainly was amusing," writes a classmate, "to see his enthusiasm, and the facility with which his

rapid tongue adapted itself to the speech, it was also more than amusing: it showed how cordially he had taken in hand the business of his life, and how practical were all his conceptions of it. I don't believe he really found any sympathy among his companions with what he was doing. I surely never stopped to consider much what he was at why he cared to bother with a Tamil lesson two or three times a week, and what relation it had to the great interests of man. Probably most of us laughed at him, thought it was one of his queer freaks, an easy way of letting off some of his superfluous energy, would have been wholly incredulous if any had told us that this was the thing that lay nearest his heart, and that was really proving him a hero. As he jabbered to us the final syllables he learned, a thing he often loved to do, we did not see at all how directly the whole force of his being was pressing toward the one desire of his life."

India was always near to him, never far off. This was the secret of the ease with which his mind adapted itself to apparently remote enterprises. To a mind seeking near objects upon which to exert itself, it is not so much distance in time or space, which constitutes remoteness, as abstraction from the realms of practical effort; thus metaphysics David could not bring within the range of his vision, yet there were some minds in his class to whom the "oversoul was far nearer than the profession which they may have anticipated entering a few years hence. A year before he graduated, David wrote: "Father! you can have no idea how much I think of India. It is almost my first thought in the morning, and is present during the day. You talk about my studying two years before entering the semi

nary. Impossible! I should pine for India's coral strands.' India! is my watchword. I know the Tamil alphabet, two hundred and twenty-eight letters. It is quite simple, but such words! whew! enough to take the breath out of your body before you finish. For instance, йyirmeyyĕrluttu, one word, which is much harder to pronounce than it looks to be on paper. The letters of that word are these in Tamil. (Here follow a dozen of the Tamil characters, which were freely sprinkled in his letters.) Before long I shall read, and before long preach the everlasting Gospel."

I have been forced, in illustrating the growth of his mind, to anticipate any account of the closing year of his college course. Little remains to be said, since this year did not differ materially, in its outward character, from the preceding. More leisure, indeed, is allowed, as the student becomes able to be trusted with it, and this is turned to the advantage of reading, especially on subjects collateral to the investigations in philosophy which form the basis of Senior studies. This year at Williams enjoys some reputation from the tuition given by Dr. Mark Hopkins, the President of the college: many fancy that the advantage, apart from his personal power, lies in a more philosophical arrangement of the subjects discussed; but they seize upon only one part of a system which unifies the entire course of education in the college, a system under which the student works, unawares, but which, at the beginning of the last year, is explained to him. This system has for its informing idea the doctrine, that the student is to work out his own education and is not to be overlaid by any merely applied knowledge. I do not hesitate to say that the one value which attaches preeminently