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XXV. MARIA MITCHELL. PROFESSOR MARIA MITCHELL, the distinguished astronomer, whose face is so vividly remembered by Vassar students of recent years, is of Quaker parentage, and a native of the island of Nantucket. She was born on the first of August, 1818, one of a numerous family. During her childhood she attended with her brothers and sisters, the school taught by their father, who had the pleasure of finding them his best pupils. The little Mitchells, quick and intelligent as they showed themselves to be, were as well constituted physic- ally as mentally; they romped, raced, and shouted as healthy children do. In appearance they differed widely, some being fair-haired and of blonde complexion, while others were strongly marked brunettes ; but all possessed the family characteristics of intelligence and perseverance. They were, as one of them afterwards expressed it, " all alike inside." Maria, a brown-skinned, dark-eyed, lively little girl, was not considered by the family to display any greater ability than the others, although at the age of eleyen, while still her father's pupil, she became his assistant teacher. Nor did she rate her intellectual gifts as highly as without vanity she might. " Born of only ordinary capacity, but of extraordinary persistency," she 'said of herself in later years, looking back upon her career. But she added with a simplicity as rare as it is pleasing : " I did not quite take this in myself, until I came to (322)