His abstraction or absent-mindedness was exhibited in many ways. Some mischief-lover barred up his door one morning and thus made him tardy at recitation hour, which gave occasion to the boys to "cut"--that is, leave and miss recitation. He went to the President and said, "Sir! is there any way to have a young man up, when you don't know who he is?" The President was a great mathematician, but he could not solve that problem. "Sheep-ear" collars were in fashion in those days, just the reverse of those now or lately fashionable--I mean those with turned-down points and rising high at the back of the neck, making one look like he had on a mustard-plaster. The "sheep-ear" collars had points with acutest angles, which came up to the corners of a man's mouth. When starched and stiffened they looked as if great danger would be incurred by a sudden turn of the head. Now just picture to yourself a sober-looking man coming into a parlor in the morning with these "sheep-ears" pointing to the back of the neck instead of to the front, and you will realize how very peculiar the tutor looked one morning when he came down. This I was eye-witness of, and if I laughed I hope no one will accuse me of want of due respect. It could not be helped, certainly by one who has been known to enjoy a hearty spell at times. The tutor was by no means a _pharisee_ in spirit, for he was one of the "meek of the earth." But his inveterate habit made him liable to be pronounced as pharisaic. When officiating at public prayers in the chapel he would sometimes forget that after prayer came recitation or lecture and then breakfast, and his prayer would seem to be interminable. Knowing his absence of mind, one morning while thus engaged some good-intentioned or irreverent fellow prompted him by a hearty _amen!_ This brought the prayer to a speedy conclusion, but the tutor was highly displeased--so much so that he sent for the most mischievous one of the auditors, whom he naturally charged with the offence, and said to him, "Mr. Blaze, I have sent for you, sir! to say to you that _you shan't say amen_ to my prayers." The tutor was very economical--some would say, penurious. Not so. He was generous and warm-hearted--as much so as an old bachelor could be. A true Christian, he felt it to be his duty to save every dime he could, that he might have the more to meet the demands of charity. This conviction caused him to discard pins as extravagant. In his room would be seen what Adam and Eve used when their first garments were donned, to furnish which conveniently he kept a thorn bush hung up behind his door. This he kept up until he was convinced that the damage thus caused to one's collar exceeded the cost of pins.