When I put on my Bachelor's gown next day in the Senate House, it was with a feeling of some satisfaction at having mastered a formidable difficulty, and the little margin I had to spare rather enhanced this satisfaction. Looking upon the Mathematical examination as Classical men often do, in the light of a fight with the examiners, I had gained the day. Moreover, I felt entitled to say that, low as the standard of a Junior Optime is compared with the professional acquirements of the upper men, I had gained a knowledge, though indeed but a temporary one, of a considerable amount of low Mathematics, more than the majority of our students ever grasp at one time, more than when at Yale I should have considered myself or been considered capable of; for to cram up certain pages of a subject and recite them from day to day, is a very different thing from being able to write out any question at random in the subject. And I repeat it, that for an unmathematical man it is not an easy thing to become even a Junior Optime, and as it demands a fair acquaintance with the low subjects, so it requires a considerable expenditure of time and trouble.

I was then rather proud of my Bachelor's degree; and yet there were circumstances connected with it that ought to have made me rather ashamed of myself.