LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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72 SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS. cal, political, and social duties, has impressed itself far more strongly upon the national life than Bud­dhism, whose overshadowing content of philosophy has failed to awaken the national sympathies. An ear­nest student of history, Neesim'l. was comparatively uninterested in the metaphysical abstractions of west­ern philosophy. He pursued the subjects of mental and moral science with that fidelity which character­ized his every effort to fit himself to be a teacher of his people, but the practical and ethical side was ever more attractive to him than the speculative and con­troversial, and western literature and poetry occupied his thought far less than western. science, history, and ethics. His mind was alert, his percepti(}ns quick, and his rank as a student high; but, while his mental ability was conspicuous, it was his character and life which left the deepest impression upon his teachers and associates. "You cannot gild gold," was the testimonial of Professor Seelye, when his pupil was about to return to Japan. His room-mate during 1868-69 says: "He was the soul of neatness, and entered lovingly upon the self-imposed task of keeping our rooms in perfect order. This scrupulous neatness and cleanliness was the first trait which impressed it­self upon my mind. He was also uniformly cheerful and of a remarkably studious spirit. Not less striking was his religious faith. The broad study-table which we used in common was divided by an imaginary line upon which his Bible was laid, and night and morning this loved book was faithfully and carefully perused. He possessed a keen sense of the humorous, and even at times essayed a witticism in the English language. After a Leyden jar has been discharged, a feeble sec­ondary discharge may often be evoked, known as the

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