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[317] his flute, which he could now play very agreeably; and he expected that this, with Henry's singing, would win their bread and lodging on the way. They must have relied upon it considerably, for the entire sum expended on the journey was but nine dollars, most of which was given for a single night's lodging. They walked up and down Mount Washington without a guide, and reached home in a four days tramp from the summit of the mountain, the last day walking more than forty miles. In September, 1857, Goodwin made a public profession of his discipleship to Christ, in the Unitarian Church. There was no pretentious piety about him. He was generally lighthearted and merry, and entered into every interest, whether work or play, with perfect abandon. But the thoroughness of his religious principles were more and more evident; they permeated his whole life, increasing the unselfish thoughtfulness of his conduct at home. He seemed to us to be almost without fault, though he so seriously accused himself at times of a ‘hasty and ungovernable temper’ that he must have had difficulty in controlling it; but it was so well controlled that we saw it only in the quick color which would flush his face when he was unjustly accused or suddenly provoked. I think he was constitutionally indolent, and apt to be dilatory, but he struggled hard throughout his life to conquer this tendency, and succeeded so well, that as a man and a worker no one would have suspected its existence. His intellectual training at Dummer Academy was thoroughly and wisely conducted. Mr. Henshaw, the principal, was a kind friend to him. The school was so small in numbers that each could receive judicious attention, and Goodwin's mind developed rapidly and symmetrically. His love of nature, too, was stimulated by the scenery around him. He always took a prominent part in the public exercises of the school, and was the valedictorian of his class. At sixteen years of age he was prepared for college, but his parents and teacher agreed that he had better wait a year before entering. During this last year of his preparatory course, he acted as
Sever and Francis, 1866.
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