A SCIENTIFIC HOME MISSIONARY. 169 



one of entertainment and instruction, and promotive of good feeling 

 on the part of all who participated in it. The influence of these exhi- 

 bitions was so beneficial, and became so well known, that large num- 

 bers flocked to them from a distance, and similar shows were got up in 

 other places. 



One of the schemes devised by Prof. Henslow for alleviating the 

 hard, monotonous life of the laboring population, and combining recrea- 

 tion with improvement, was the arrangement of excursions to neigh- 

 boring places of interest. Knowing that those who always stay at 

 home are apt to become narrow and prejudiced, he sought to afford 

 them the opportunity of observing the ways and habits of other 

 places, and to open to them not merely agreeable sights, but sources 

 of knowledge from which they had been previously shut out. From 

 one to two hundred persons usually accompanied him, and his prepara- 

 tions for these excursions were always very methodical ; for he aimed 

 to combine moral discipline with healthful amusement. A " recreation 

 fund" was raised, and the poor always contributed something toward 

 the expenses. Tickets were issued, limiting the number of those at- 

 tending, and printed circulars were sometimes prepared with plans of 

 the route, regulations for the party, and often copious notes concerning 

 the place and objects to be visited. An eleven-page pocket-guide was 

 got uj) on one occasion for the use of the visitors at Cambridge, giving 

 an account of the colleges, museums, and libraries of the university. 

 Sometimes they went to the neighboring towns, to manufacturing' 

 places, or to the sea-shore. But the professor was always ready with 

 his interesting " lecturets " to explain every thing to his flock of eager 

 listeners. The impression left by these holiday excursions upon the 

 minds and hearts of the simple laborers was most gratifying, and, as 

 one of them remarked to Prof. Henslow, " Our heads would not be so 

 full of drink if we had such things to occupy our minds." 



The task which Prof. Henslow had undertaken was one of imme- 

 diate and practical social amelioration, and this compelled him to 

 grapple with the adult ignorance and the indurated prejudices of the 

 community. But he did not forget the children. "When he went to 

 Hitcham, there was but a single, very poor school in the parish, but 

 he lost no time in establishing a better one. Meeting with but little 

 support from his parishioners, he had to bear the greater part of the 

 expense himself in the erection of a school-house and the payment of 

 a teacher. He had to deal with the children of an ignorant and stolid 

 peasantry, yet he brought his scientific resources to bear upon them 

 with such success that his humble parish-school acquired a national 

 reputation, was visited by people from all parts of the country, and 

 was inquired into by Parliament when settling the policy of its public 

 schools. 



Prof. Henslow struck boldly out from the traditional method, and 

 did a thing unheard of in England, which was, to introduce his favorite 



