The Locomotive, Vol. 27: January, 1908 (Classic Reprint)

by Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection Co

Excerpt from The Locomotive, Vol. 27: January, 1908 Mr. Pierce was a republican in politics, but had never held any political office. Indeed, he was of so retiring a disposition that the publicity inseparable from such a position would have been exceedingly distasteful to him. He was a member of the Fourth Congregational Church of Hartford, and had been president of its board of trustees from the time the church was incorporated. He was, in fact, the leading layman in the church. And he had given great personal attention to the musical features of its services in particular, although his inuence extended to all its departments. He was deeply interested in the mission work done by the institution now known as Warburton Chapel. He joined it in November, 1854, at which time it was known as the Union Sunday School, and occupied Washington Hall, on State Street. He became assistant superintendent of the organization about 1858 or 1859, and continued his active connection with it until October, 1880, when he withdrew from personal participation in the work, though his interest in it was always sustained. Here, as in the Fourth Church, he gave especial attention to the musical part of the services. Mr. Pierce was universally admitted to be one of the highest authorities upon steam boiler inspection and insurance. He wrote nothing upon the subject, however, but was content to apply his knowledge solely to the advancement of the company with which he was identified. He was a man of strongly scientific tastes, and in earlier life he devoted much time to microscopic work, and par ticularly to the study of the various forms of animal and vegetable life that occur in the vicinity of Hartford. Indeed, his eyesight was somewhat affected from this cause at one time, though the impairment was not permanent. There can be little doubt but that his microscopic work, taken in connection with his other scientific tendencies, constituted one of the earliest bonds of friend ship between himself and Mr. J. M. Allen, through whom Mr. Pierce became secretary. In later years he was forced to discontinue his microscopic work, but he maintained, to the last, the keenest interest in scientific progress along all lines, and he enjoyed nothing more than listening to an account of recent investigations in any field of knowledge whatever. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.