|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 80
As Isaac grew older, it was found that he had far more important matters
in his mind than the manufacture of toys, like the little windmill. All
day long, if left to himself, he was either absorbed in thought, or
engaged in some book of mathematics, or natural philosophy. At night, I
think it probable, he looked up with reverential curiosity to the stars,
and wondered whether they were worlds, like our own,--and how great was
their distance from the earth,--and what was the power that kept them in
their courses. Perhaps, even so early in life, Isaac Newton felt a
presentiment that he should be able, hereafter, to answer all these
questions.
When Isaac was fourteen years old, his mother's second husband being
now dead, she wished her son to leave school, and assist her in managing
the farm at Woolsthorpe. For a year or two, therefore, he tried to turn
his attention to farming. But his mind was so bent on becoming a
scholar, that his mother sent him back to school, and afterwards to the
University of Cambridge.
I have now finished my anecdotes of Isaac Newton's boyhood. My story
would be far too long, were I to mention all the splendid discoveries
which he made, after he came to be a man. He was the first that found
out the nature of Light; for, before his day, nobody could tell what the
sunshine was composed of. You remember, I suppose, the story of an
apple's falling on his head, and thus leading him to discover the force
of gravitation, which keeps the heavenly bodies in their courses. When
he had once got hold of this idea, he never permitted his mind to rest,
until he had searched out all the laws, by which the planets are guided
through the sky. This he did as thoroughly as if he had gone up among
the stars, and tracked them in their orbits. The boy had found out the
mechanism of a windmill; the man explained to his fellow-men the
mechanism of the universe.
While making these researches he was accustomed to spend night after
night in a lofty tower, gazing at the heavenly bodies through a
telescope. His mind was lifted far above the things of this world. He
may be said, indeed, to have spent the greater part of his life in
worlds that lie thousands and millions of miles away; for where the
thoughts and the heart are, there is our true existence.
Did you never hear the story of Newton and his little dog Diamond? One
day, when he was fifty years old, and had been hard at work more than
twenty years, studying the theory of Light, he went out of his chamber,
leaving his little dog asleep before the fire. On the table lay a heap
of manuscript papers, containing all the discoveries which Newton had
made during those twenty years. When his master was gone, up rose little
Diamond, jumped upon the table, and overthrew the lighted candle. The
papers immediately caught fire.
Just as the destruction was completed, Newton opened the chamber-door,
and perceived that the labors of twenty years were reduced to a heap of
ashes. There stood little Diamond, the author of all the mischief.
Almost any other man would have sentenced the dog to immediate death.
But Newton patted him on the head with his usual kindness, although
grief was at his heart.
"Oh, Diamond, Diamond," exclaimed he, "thou little knowest the mischief
thou hast done."
This incident affected his health and spirits for some time afterwards;
but, from his conduct towards the little dog, you may judge what was the
sweetness of his temper.
Newton lived to be a very old man, and acquired great renown, and was
made a Member of Parliament, and received the honor of knighthood from
the king. But he cared little for earthly fame and honors, and felt no
pride in the vastness of his knowledge. All that he had learned only
made him feel how little he knew in comparison to what remained to be
known.
"I seem to myself like a child," observed he, "playing on the sea-shore,
and picking up here and there a curious shell or a pretty pebble, while
the boundless ocean of Truth lies undiscovered before me."
At last, in 1727, when he was fourscore and five years old, Sir Isaac
Newton died,--or rather he ceased to live on earth. We may be permitted
to believe that he is still searching out the infinite wisdom and
goodness of the Creator, as earnestly, and with even more success, than
while his spirit animated a mortal body. He has left a fame behind him,
which will be as endurable as if his name were written in letters of
light, formed by the stars upon the midnight sky.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|