LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



Henslow. Darwin became known as ''the man w^ho 

 w^alks with Henslow." Henslow^ taught botany, and 

 took his classes on tramps afield and on barge rides 

 down the river, giving out-of-door lectures on the 'way. 

 This common-sense w^ay of teaching appealed to Dar- 

 win greatly, and although he did not at Cambridge 

 take botany as a study, yet when Henslow had an out- 

 of-door class he usually managed to go along. In his 

 autobiography Darwin gives great credit to this very 

 gentle and simple soul, who, although not being great 

 as a thinker, yet could animate and arouse a pleasurable 

 interest. Henslow^ was once admonished by the faculty 

 for his lack of discipline, and young Darw^in came near 

 getting himself into difficulty by declaring, ''Professor 

 Henslow teaches his pupils in love, the others think 

 they know a better way ! " 



The hope of his father and sisters was that Charles 

 Darwin would become a clergyman. For the army he 

 had no taste whatsoever, and at twenty-one the only 

 thing seemed to be the Church. Not that the young 

 man w^as filled with religious zeal — far from that — but 

 one must do something, you know. Up to this time he 

 had studied in a desultory w^ay, he had also dreamed 

 and tramped the fields. He had done considerable 

 grouse shooting and had developed a little too much 

 skill in that particular line. To paraphrase Herbert 

 Spencer, to shoot fairly well is a manly accomplish- 

 ment, but to shoot too well is evidence of an ill-spent 

 youth. Dr. Darwin was having fears that his son was 

 going to be an idle sportsman, and he was urging the 

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