185S-1859] William Darwin's Speech 109 



next morning at seven o'clock he came to my bedside and 

 said how sorry he was that he had been so angry, and that 

 he had not been able to sleep; and with a few kind words he 

 left me. 



What especially impressed me was his hatred of slavery. 

 I remember his talking with horror of his sleepless nights 

 when he could not keep out of his mind some incidents from 

 Olmsted's Journeys in the Slave States, a book he had lately 

 been reading; and in many of his letters to Professor Asa 

 Gray he alludes to slavery with the utmost detestation. 



I will not detain you with any recollections of his political 

 opinions except to say that he was an ardent Liberal, and had 

 a very great admiration for John Stuart Mill and Mr. Glad- 

 stone; at the same time he often deplored the almost total 

 lack of interest in science in the House of Commons. 



I think when I was a child my father's health was, 

 perhaps, at its worst, and there is no doubt that it threw a 

 certain air of sadness over the life at Down, but whenever he 

 was a trifle better his natural joyousness and gaiety flowed 

 out, and what we very vividly remember is the delightful 

 playmate he made for us as children. In later life he 

 always treated us with entire trust and freedom, and all our 

 opinions or views or desires he would discuss and consider 

 almost as if we were his equals ; and it is touching to recall, 

 though it almost makes one smile, the tone of admiration and 

 gratitude with which he would acknowledge any little help we 

 could give him in botanical or other matters. In later life he 

 used to like to discuss any of the books or topics of the day, 

 and it was always with modesty; he never seemed to think 

 that his opinion was worth very much outside of his own 

 special subjects. One of the great peculiarities I found in 

 him was his immense reverence for the memory of his father ; 

 in all cases of health or illness, in many of the other t!on- 

 ditions of life he would quote words of wisdom or advice of 

 his father. To be present with him, when he happened to 

 be well, at a small luncheon party with congenial friends, 

 especially if a sympathetic woman were seated near him, will 

 not be easily forgotten by anyone who has experienced it. 



