Existing comment:
A Life of Learning:
At Home:
When George Alfred Townsend was a boy, society did not highly value education. His parents did, however. Until he was eight years old, his mother taught him at home, where he had access to his father's collection of religious books. When his father purchased Uncle Tom's Cabin, Townsend read his first novel. He considered the reading of this book to be a milestone in his intellectual development.
Townsend was self-taught from an early age. When he was only 11 years old, he bought water color paints and instruction books and began to paint. This interest continued throughout his life.
At School:
In the mid-19th century, colleges often offered elementary education as well as academic degrees. In 1849, George Alfred Townsend began classes at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. As his family moved, he transferred first to a school that became the University of Delaware and then to a free school in Philadelphia. In 1856, he enrolled at Philadelphia's Central High School, which granted him a college degree in February 1860. Central had opened in 1838 as the nation's second public high school. In 1849, the Pennsylvania Assembly had granted it the power to confer academic degrees. Today, it continues to earn high ratings nationally and is the only high school in the country that can grant college degrees to graduates who fulfill the requirements.
"Saturday, February 9, 1856. The most important day in my life. Admitted to the Central High School today about 1 o'clock."
-- Excerpt from the diary of George Alfred Townsend
Continuing Education:
George Alfred Townsend never stopped learning. Throughout his life, he read voraciously, particularly about the country's history and political system. Amassing a library of over 5,000 volumes, he could talk intelligently about many diverse subjects.
Travels:
George Alfred Townsend considered travel to be time well spent. He visited Europe six times, crossed the United States three times, and visited every state, US Territory, and the West Indies.
"I took eight years at least, if not twelve, out of my life and invested it in experience, saving nothing, but going many a thousand miles that I might learn how to see; for the eye is to the writer what the hand is to the mechanic."
-- George Alfred Townsend, Lippincott's Magazine, v.48, p.630 |