LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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ENTERS PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 49 Ephraim Flint, Jr., then completing his theological course in the seminary. Both Mr. Flint and his wife took the greatest interest in the young stranger, and gave much of their time to his instruction. This in­terest developed into a warm friendship, and in later years Neesima often visited Mr. Flint at Hinsdale, Mass., where he was settled, and where he died, much mourned and beloved. N eesima remained in Andover until the fall of 1867, when he was sent to Amherst to take such stud­ies as would best fit him for his future work. His time at Andover was devoted to English, natural sci­ence, and mathematics, and, on leaving the academy, Dr. Taylor writes-of him: "What he has done he has done well." His eyes were not strong, and he was at this time under the care of a Boston oculist. Any bodily weakness alarmed him, and the struggle be­tween the desire to improve his opportunities and the fear of jeopardizing by overwork his "great aim" is often recorded in his journal. On the flyleaf of this journal he writes, on reaching Andover, the verse which of all others occurs most frequently in his private papers: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "This verse," he said in later years, "is the sun among all the stars which shine upon the pages of God's holy word;" and the vital principle of religion was ever for him the conviction of the love of God for man. On the opposite page of the journal is found this prayer:-" 0 Lord, Thou picked out me from darkness, for­saking· my parents whom I did love, and bringeth me here, passing boundless ocean very safely, no hun·i-

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