and several other subjects.
He was one of the most learned men and one of the greatest orators of
his time. Yet his life was spent amid the turmoil of a camp or the
fierce struggle of politics. If he found abundant time for study, who
may not? Frederick the Great, too, was busy in camp the greater part
of his life, yet whenever a leisure moment came, it was sure to be
devoted to study. He wrote to a friend, "I become every day more
covetous of my time, I render an account of it to myself, and I lose
none of it but with great regret."

Columbus, while leading the life of a sailor, managed to become the
most accomplished geographer and astronomer of his time.

When Peter the Great, a boy of seventeen, became the absolute ruler of
Russia, his subjects were little better than savages, and in himself,
even, the passions and propensities of barbarism were so strong that
they were frequently exhibited during his whole career. But he
determined to transform himself and the Russians into civilized people.
He instituted reforms with great energy, and at the age of twenty-six
started on a visit to the other countries of Europe for the purpose of
learning about their arts and institutions. At Saardam, Holland, he
was so impressed with the sights of the great East India dockyard, that
he apprenticed himself to a shipbuilder, and helped build the St.
Peter, which he promptly purchased. Continuing his travels, after he
had learned his trade, he worked in England in paper-mills, saw-mills,
rope-yards, watchmaker's shops, and other manufactories, doing the work
and receiving the treatment of a common laborer.

While traveling, his constant habit was to obtain as much information
as he could beforehand with regard to every place he was to visit, and
he would demand, "Let me see all." When setting out on his
investigations, on such occasions, he carried his tablets in his hand,
and whatever he deemed worthy of remembrance was carefully noted down.
He would often leave his carriage, if he saw the country people at work
by the wayside as he passed along, and not only enter into conversation
with them, on agricultural affairs, but accompany them to their houses,
examine their furniture, and take drawings of their implements of
husbandry. Thus he obtained much minute and correct knowledge, which
he would scarcely have acquired by other means, and which he afterward
turned to admirable account in the improvement of his own country.