en. n.J BOYIIOOD. 7 



I must have been a very simple little fellow when I first 

 went to the school. A boy of the name of Garnett took me 

 into a cake shop one day, and bought some cakes for which 

 he did not pay, as the shopman trusted him. When we 

 came out I asked him why he did not pay for them, and he 

 instantly answered, " Why, do you not know that my uncle 

 left a great sum of money to the town on condition that 

 every tradesman should give whatever was wanted without 

 payment to any one who wore his old hat and moved [it] in 

 a particular manner ? " and he then showed me how it was 

 moved. He then went into another shop where he was 

 trusted, and asked for some small article, moving his hat in 

 the proper manner, and of course obtained it without pay- 

 ment. When we came out he said, " Xow if you like to go 

 by yourself into that cake shop (how well I remember its 

 exact position), I will lend you my hat, and you can get 

 whatever you like if you move the hat on your head prop- 

 erly." I gladly accepted the generous offer, and went in 

 and asked for some cakes, moved the old hat, and was walk- 

 ing out of the shop, when the shopman made a rush at 

 me, so I dropped the cakes and ran for dear life, and was 

 astonished by being greeted with shouts of laughter by my 

 false friend Garnett. 



I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, 

 but I owed this entirely to the instruction and example of 

 my sisters. I doubt indeed whether humanity is a natural 

 or innate quality. I was very fond of collecting eggs, but I 

 never took more than a single egg out of a bird's nest, ex- 

 cept on one single occasion, when I took all, not for their 

 value, but from a sort of bravado. 



I had a strong taste for angling, and would sit for any 

 number of hours on the bank of a river or pond watching 

 the float ; when at Maer * I was told that I could kill the 

 worms with salt and water, and from that day I never spitted 

 a living worm, though at the expense probably of some loss 

 of success. 



Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or be- 

 fore that time, I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, 

 simply from enjoying the sense of power ; but the beating 

 could not have been severe, for the puppy did not howl, of 

 which I feel sure as the spot was near the house. This act 

 lay heavily on my conscience, as is shown by my remember- 



* The house of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood, the younger. 

 2 



