108 Rhodora [JUNE 
teen, he removed with his parents to Boston, and entered the school 
of T. B. Hayward, where he continued his classical studies, and ac- 
quired proficiency in French and Italian. German was not much. 
taught in those days, and it was characteristic of him that, later in life, 
when he found his ignorance of that language disadvantageous, he set 
to work to learn it, and obtained a good reading knowledge of it after 
he was fifty years old. 
At the age of nineteen, he entered the office of his father, who was 
established as a leather merchant in Boston. In 1851 and 1852 he 
made a trip to Europe, spending nearly two years in travelling in the 
old-fashioned methods, largely on foot, through the Continent and 
Great Britain. This long journey appears to have satisfied his desire 
to see the world, for he seldom went out of New England again except 
on business errands ; and in fact often made the statement when urged 
to visit other parts of the country, * New England is good enough 
for me." 
On his return from Europe, he was admitted as partner in his 
father's business, and on the death of the latter in 1855, became the 
head of the firm. "Throughout his active and successful business life 
he found time to indulge his taste for natural history, particularly 
botany, and his love for books and engravings, of which his knowledge 
was most thorough and accurate. When he retired from business, at 
the age of fifty-eight, he was well fitted, therefore, to enjoy the quiet 
pleasures that such tastes bring. He was never married, but made a 
quiet and congenial home in Jamaica Plain, happy in the society of 
younger brothers and sisters who shared his interests and pursuits. 
Here he brought together an interesting library and herbarium. 
He now began to collect plants more seriously, and to explore and 
study the flora of New England. When Mr. Pringle began his career 
as a collector, the two were often together, and many were the interest- 
ing discoveries they made. With him he thoroughly explored all the 
ravines on the sides of Mt. Washington, and described their climb out 
of Tuckerman's Ravine up the wallto Bigelow's Lawn as the only foolish 
and dangerous adventure he ever had. After Mr. Pringle sought wider 
and fresher fields, Mr. Faxon still continued his explorations with in- 
defatigable zeal, as many of our younger botanists whom he brought to 
their first acquaintance with our alpine flora can well attest. It is 
probable that no one,since Oakes and Tuckerman, has explored the 
White Mountains so carefully as he. 
