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ELIHU BOOT By AtiBebt William Magt AS a rale those lives are most inspiring in which success has /A been won in spite of the handicap of poverty. An ex- ception mnst be made in the case of Elihu Boot^ how- ever. He has never, even in childhood, felt the sting of pov- erty; yet his life is interesting in the extreme, and full of inspiration for the student. He has never been driven by necessity, and his path is one of his own choosing; but his life has always been, and is to-day, an unceasing round of hard work. Endowed with great intellectual powers, he was never content, even as a boy in school, to drift with the tide, but chose rather to seek out difficulties and conquer them. This characteristic has remained with him through life, and a finer example can hardly be found of eminent success won by per- sistent effort. Elihu Boot was bom in the village of Clinton, Oneida county. New York, February 15, 1845. His father was Oren Boot, for many years a professor in Hamilton College, located at Clinton. His mother was a daughter of Major H. G. But- trick. The house in which Elihu was bom stood upon the college campus, and belonged to his maternal grandfather. Major Buttrick. When Elihu was very young his father removed with his family to Seneca Falls, New York, where he became the prin- cipal of an academy. He remained there but a few years, however, and in 1850, when Elihu was five years old, he re- turned with his family to Clinton, to take the chair of math- ematics and astronomy in Hamilton College. Professor Boot was not only a good mathematical scholar, but a lover of nature as well; a combination rather unusual. In the rear of his home was a ravine, not extensive, but rough and irregular, and altogether a romantic spot. He added to the grounds, and constructed a sort of wild garden, which be- came quite a noted feature in the conmiunity. After his death