James Burrill Angell

“ As one recalls how slender were the opportunities in those days for training in engineering studies and observes the large number of excellent engineering schools in our country, one may say that in no branch of education has there been more rapid and helpful development than in that of engineering in all its applications.
The Grand Trunk road from Montreal to Boston was opened while I was in the office. ”

“ So I went to the police office and demanded my passport, viséd for Munich. To my surprise and to my temporary satisfaction the officer could not find it. I saw at once that there I had him at my mercy. In those days a passport was regarded in official circles as such a sacrosanct document that a police official could hardly commit a more serious offence than to lose it. So I assumed the menacing air, and told him that if the passport was not at my room viséd within three hours I would report the case to the American Chargé for complaint to the Government. ”

“ Life could never again be quite what it was before. Of all the gifts of Rome to me that was the greatest.
During our stay in Rome the diligence on the journey between Rome and Florence was several times stopped by highwaymen, and the passengers were robbed of their money, watches, and jewels. It was said that the robbers were for the most part men of good families. Certainly they showed good breeding. They usually begged the passengers to fear no bodily harm. ”

“ WORK IN CIVIL ENGINEERING AND STUDY IN EUROPE
THE trouble with my throat described on page 40, really changed the whole plan of my life, as I had then marked it out. I had formed the purpose of studying for the ministry. Some of my most intimate college friends were already pursuing theological studies in the Andover Theological Seminary, where I used to visit them. I had formed the acquaintance of the eminent Professors, Park, Edwards, and Phelps. ”

“ I asked myself what out-of-door employment is there in which I can profit by the education I have had. I decided that civil engineering gave the best promise of fulfilling that condition. Fortunately some of my friends knew Mr. E. S. Chesboro, a former resident of Providence, and then City Engineer of Boston. ”

“ The tenor singer in the Brunswick Opera Company and his wife occupied a room directly under mine. He was a very genial, jolly fellow, and I used often to walk with him. Through him I made the acquaintance in his rooms of his associates in the Opera Company. As the members of the company hold permanent positions in a German city, I met them at times in general society. They presented to me a new side of life. I found them very companionable and entertaining, but was surprised to observe that most of them had very limited attainments beyond their professional training. ”

“ Though we young Americans, never having seen so many men under arms, were impressed by the brilliant display, yet our sympathy with the Hungarians whom the Austrian government had been enabled only by Russian help to defeat, led us to look on with an inward protest, especially as we had seen the breaches in the city walls which the Hungarian revolutionists had made with their cannon as they were on the point of gaining their independence. ”

“ He was an excellent lecturer. But alas ! the old German "Gründlichkeit," if not so striking as that of Herr Sack in his "History of the Chimneys of Brunswick," proved fatal. For he began back with the Germans of whom I had read in the Germania of Tacitus, and in my six weeks had only got down towards the modern times as far as the translation of the Bible by Ulfilas. However, I heard other excellent lectures on the Ancient Classics, and enjoyed much the visits to the galleries of art. My sojourn was not without profit and pleasure.
From Munich I went to Zürich. ”

“ Having engaged our seats in the diligence, we went to the office at the appointed hour and occupied them. The diligence was driven to the railway station and there the body was lifted with passengers and baggage by a crane and deposited on a flat car. So we were transported to Dijon, where the diligence body was again lifted by a crane and placed on wheels. We were then drawn by horses to Lyons. Thence we were taken by rail to Marseilles. On our journey we saw many citizens tied to ropes and marching under military guard to prison. Everywhere there was manifest a feeling of high tension. ”

“ His eldest daughter, who was a teacher in a private school and was a scholar of large reading in English as well as in German literature, became my teacher. She was most competent. I have always regarded myself as so greatly indebted to her that I continued correspondence with her until her death in 1907. I know few American women who can recite so many fine passages from English poets as she could. ”

“ We made brief visits at Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Cologne on our way to Paris. Here Mr. Hazard left me on June 10, 1852, and returned home via England. I began the search for a teacher of French. After a little I had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of Monsieur Jansen who had once been a Professor in a Lycée, but had been thrown out of office owing to his radical republicanism, He was a guileless, scholarly man, without much skill in making his way in the world, especially in the troubled times which had come to France. ”

“ The breath of their life seemed to be public applause of their performances, and perhaps as a consequence of this they were very jealous of each other's success. Most of them mingled with their neighbours without attracting more especial attention than other respectable citizens. ”

“ The work on the Cochituate water supply in Boston was not then completed, and I was employed mainly on that. In those days few men in the engineering offices had received a technical or even a mathematical education in the schools. ”