While a pupil at
West Point Military Academy he was, however, equally remarkable for
his indefatigable application and perseverance. When a task was
set him, he never left it until he had mastered it; nor did he ever
feign to possess knowledge which he had not entirely acquired.
"Again and again," wrote one who knew him, "when called upon to
answer questions in the recitation of the day, he would reply, 'I
have not yet looked at it; I have been engaged in mastering the
recitation of yesterday or the day before.' The result was that he
graduated seventeenth in a class of seventy. There was probably in
the whole class not a boy to whom Jackson at the outset was not
inferior in knowledge and attainments; but at the end of the race
he had only sixteen before him, and had outstripped no fewer than
fifty-three. It used to be said of him by his contemporaries, that
if the course had been for ten years instead of four, Jackson would
have graduated at the head of his class." {34}
John Howard, the philanthropist, was another illustrious dunce,
learning next to nothing during the seven years that he was at
school. Stephenson, as a youth, was distinguished chiefly for his
skill at putting and wrestling, and attention to his work. The
brilliant Sir Humphry Davy was no cleverer than other boys: his
teacher, Dr.
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