LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



And Huxley replied, " I, too, would rather be right — 

 I would rather be right than Premier." 

 Charles Darwin was a Gentle Man. He was the great- 

 est naturalist of his time, and a more perfect gentle- 

 man never lived. His son Francis said, " I cannot 

 remember of ever hearing my father utter an unkind 

 or hasty word. If in his presence some one was being 

 harshly criticised he always thought of something to 

 say in w^ay of palliation and excuse." 

 One of his companions on the " Beagle," who saw him 

 daily for five years on that memorable trip wrote, "A 

 protracted sea voyage is a most severe test of friend- 

 ship, and Darwin was the only man on our ship, or 

 that I ever heard of, who stood the ordeal. He never 

 lost his temper or made an unkind remark." 

 Captain Fitz-Roy of the "Beagle" was a disciplina- 

 rian, and absolute in his authority, as a ship- captain 

 must be. 



The ship had just left one of the South American ports 

 where the captain had gone ashore and been enter- 

 tained by a coffee-planter. On this plantation all the 

 work w^as done by slaves, who, no doubt, were very 

 well treated. The Captain thought that negroes well 

 cared for were very much better off than if free. And 

 further, he related how the owner had called up va- 

 rious slaves and had the Captain ask them if they 

 wished freedom, and the answer was always, "No." 

 Q Darwin here interposed by asking the Captain w^hat 

 he thought the answer of a slave was worth when being 

 interrogated in the presence of his owner. Here 

 158 



