r
alert, active and ingenious. Whatever he saw, he saw distinctly, and
was able, with equal clearness, to express to another. If a student
were really perplexed, he knew how to relieve him by a pertinent
example or illustration, but it was generally done by a question or a
suggestion which demanded the activity of the student's own mind, and
disciplined while it, helped him. If a pupil, on the other hand, were
captious, or conceited, he was apt to find himself, before he
suspected it, inextricably entangled in a web of contradictions, where
he was sometimes left till he came to a sense of his weakness, or till
he was dismissed with the benign declaration that 'he might sit.'

"Dr. Shurtleff's wit was sharp and pungent, and on any occasion which
involved the exercise of it he was quite equal to his part. He
sometimes engaged in controversy, and versed as he was in all logical
art, those who encountered him once were seldom anxious to provoke a
second contest. His opinions, both religious and philosophical, were
early settled and firmly held. He was in nothing given to change; his
friends were generally the friends of his life, and those who were
familiar with his habits of thought could easily tell where, upon any
given question, he would probably be found.

"His interest in young men was a noticeable trait in Dr. Shurtleff's
character, while preacher to the college; the effect of his private
conversations and friendly advice was almost equal to that of his
public ministrations. His quiet study was often the scene of meetings
for prayer or religious conversation from which were carried away
influences for good, never to be forgotten, and for which many were
grateful to their dying day.

"The efforts of deserving young men to obtain a liberal education
always excited his sympathy, and there has seldom been a time for many
years when some such one has not been a member of his own family,
aided and encouraged by his kindness. The number thus assisted no one
can now tell, nor probably could he himself. It was greater than most
persons would think possible.

"The last twenty years of his life Dr. Shurtleff spent in dignified
retirement, in the enjoyment of a competency, and in full exercise of
his faculties. He especially enjoyed the visits of former pupils, no
one of whom seemed to be lost from his retentive memory, and the
annual commencements were always exhilarating reunions to him. His
conversation, at such times es