it in their hearts. It was all the beautiful dream that 

 the mother has for her babe as she sings to the man- 

 child a lullaby as the sun goes down. 

 In his autobiographical sketch, written when he was 

 past sixty, Darwin mentions this faith and love of his 

 sisters, and says, " Personally, I never had much am- 

 bition, but when at college I felt that I must work, if 

 for no other reason, so as not to disappoint my sisters." 

 Q At school Charles was considerable of a grubber, he 

 worked hard because he felt that it was his duty. Eng- 

 lish boarding-schools have always taught things out of 

 season, and very often have succeeded in making 

 learning wholly repugnant. Perhaps that is the reason 

 that nine men out of ten who go to college cease all 

 study as soon as they stand on "the threshold," look- 

 ing at life ere they seize it by the tail to snap its head 

 off. To them education is one thing and life another. 

 Q But with many headaches and many heartaches 

 Charles got through Cambridge and then was sent to 

 attend lectures at the University of Edinburgh. Of one 

 lecturer in Scotland he says, "The good man was 

 really more dull than his books, and how^ I escaped 

 without all science being utterly distasteful to me I 

 hardly know." 



To Cambridge, Darwin owed nothing but the associa- 

 tion with other minds, yet this was much, and almost 

 justifies the college. " Send your sons to college and 

 the boys will educate them," said Emerson. 

 The most beneficent influence for Darw^in at Cambridge 

 was the friendship between himself and Professor 



163 



LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



