When I was ten, I visited and got know my Kirk second cousins in Mason City, Iowa. Dorothy is the youngest, in ninth grade. I went to school with her, and pored over her Latin book. I was able to figure out the first several lessons. I decided I’d take Latin when I reached ninth grade.

Back at the Kirk house, I said, “Latin really makes you think!”

Dorothy said, “When I was in Wisconsin, Uncle Wesson said something to me about thinking. I wrote it down in my diary.”

“What?” I asked. “Can I read it?”

“I remember it,” Dorothy said. “We were talking about my future and where I wanted to go to college, and what I thought about life, things like that. And he asked me if I knew what an educated man was. I said ‘No, I don’t.’ He said, “An educated man is one who has taught his mind to think. And his hand to act. And his heart to feel.'”

I, too, thought that was worth writing down. It’s a description of Grampa himself.