ELIHU BURRITT, “the Learned Blacksmith,” was one of those strong original thinkers who are impelled to write more by the strength of the thought itself than by the desire for reputation. The man who learns half a dozen languages at a blacksmith’s forge is always likely to betray himself in faults of style and to show a lack of information on points which are familiar to those who have done little more than submit apathetically to the routine of methodical education. But if he be a real thinker as Burritt was, this will be forgotten for the sake of his message. Burritt’s prose is poetical without being florid, and at times he is strikingly eloquent. He was born at New Britain, Connecticut, December 8th, 1810, and was wholly self-educated. The reputation made by his earlier essays published in 1848 as “Sparks from the Anvil” led him to give up the forge and devote himself to literature and political reforms of various kinds. He died March 7th, 1879. Besides “Sparks from the Anvil,” he published “Olive Leaves” and “Chips from Many Blocks.”