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The boy was indeed father of the man. Hungry for learning, he was always seeking it wherever there were stores of it in the Old World. When found and mastered, he put it to service for mankind in the form of books which were true to the existing state of knowledge, and yet expressed in language which the general public could not understand and with which the most learned could find no fault. This gift of presenting the results of his own and others' researches into the ancient past in such form as to engage the attention of the public made his lectures on Assyriology as fascinating as a tale of adventure. Not only university audiences, but pastors in Annual Conferences, and much more miscellaneous groups, listened eagerly as the dim figures of the past moved before them in color, action and life under the magic touch of the master.
Robert Rogers' graduation at the University of Pennsylvania was only the beginning. He had heard of a new fountain of knowledge, and promptly joined the select body of ambitious young scholars who flocked to Johns Hopkins for advanced study. Before he was 26 he had been teaching the Biblical langauges languages and Semitic history at Haverford and Dickinson. Not yet 30, he was nominated with others for the chair which Dr. Strong had filled since 1868, and-wonder of wonders!-he was elected over the veteran nominees.
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