LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



daughter, Susannah V/edgwood, married Dr. Robert 

 Darwin, and Charles Darwin, their son, married Emma 

 "Wedgwood, a daughter of Josiah "Wedgwood the Sec- 

 ond. Caroline Darwin, a sister of Charles Darwin, 

 married Josiah Wedgwood the Third. Let those who 

 have the time w^ork out this origin of species in detail 

 and show us the relationship of the Darwins and 

 Wedgwoods. And I hope we '11 hear no more about 

 the folly of cousins marrying, when Charles Darwin is 

 before us as an example of natural selection. 

 From his mother Darwin inherited those traits of gen- 

 tleness, insight, purity of purpose, patience and per- 

 sistency that set him apart as a marked man. 

 The father of Charles Darwin, Dr. Robert Darwin, was 

 a successful physician of Shrewsbury. His marriage to 

 Susannah W^edgwood filled his heart, and also placed 

 him on a firm financial footing, and he seemed to take 

 his choice of patients. Dr. Darwin was a man devoted 

 to his family, respected by his neighbors, and he lived 

 long enough to see his son recognized, greatly to his 

 surprise, as one of England's foremost scientists. 

 Charles Darwin in youth w^as rather slow in intellect, 

 and in form and feature far from handsome. Physically 

 he w^as never strong. In disposition he was gentle and 

 most lovable. His mother died w^hen he w^as eight 

 years of age, and his three older sisters then mothered 

 him. Between them all existed a tie of affection, very 

 gentle, and very firm. The girls knew^ that Charles 

 would become an eminent man — ^just how^ they could 

 not guess — but he w^ould be a leader of men — they felt 

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