for Mathematics at Harvard College.

He was a member of the Superintending School Committee of Lowell; and so
busy were he and his coworkers that they were repeatedly obliged to hold
their meetings at six o'clock in the morning.

Warren Colburn was ardently admired--almost revered--by the teachers who
were trained to use his "Inductive Methods of Instruction" in teaching
elementary mathematics.

In personal appearance Mr. Colburn was decidedly pleasing. His height
was five feet ten, and his figure was well proportioned. His face
was one not to be forgotten; it indicated sweetness of disposition,
benevolence, intelligence, and refinement. His mental operations were
not rapid, and it was only by great patience and long continued thought
that he achieved his objects. He was not fluent in conversation; his
hesitancy of speech, however, was not so great when with friends as
with strangers. The tendency of his mind was toward the practical in
knowledge; his study was to simplify science, and to make it accessible
to common minds.

Mr. Colburn will live in educational history as the author of "Warren
Colburn's First Lessons," one of the very best books ever written, and
which, for a quarter of a century, was in almost universal use as a
text-book in the best common schools, not only in the primary and
intermediate grades, but also in the grammar school classes.

In accordance with the method of this famous book, the pupils were
taught in a natural way, a knowledge of the fundamental principles of
arithmetic. By its use they developed the ability to solve mentally and