29 



child set apart to minister in the temple of nature. He registered his 

 future vocation wheu in maturer years he said, "out of botany all to 

 me is blank." With more propriety he might have said, out of nature 

 all to me is blank. Exclusive attention to one branch of natural 

 science was out of the question. His broad, catholic tendencies 

 could tolerate no such divoi'ce of one kiugxlom from another. Uncon- 

 sciously to himself, the unity in all was a potent element in leading 

 him to devote himself to science. The harmony everywhere evinced 

 was suited to a nature so thoughtful as his. The passionate ardor 

 with which he pursued this idea, thereby becoming acquainted with 

 the divine plan, lightened to him many labors of details involved in his 

 mode of investigation. 



One of his characteristics was that he could not do anything well 

 but in his own way, and he had a strong will to bring that way about. 

 If he set his heart upon anj'thing he was unhappy till he could attain 

 his wish, and very persistent in his pursuit of it. Perhaps the great- 

 est trial of his childish life was the ungratified desire for a pistol, and 

 subsequently for a gun, the possession of which had to be deferred 

 till he came to years of discretion. In early childhood he was shocked 

 and made unhappy for a long time hj finding out that men used guns 

 against one another. The knowledge came on the same occasion that 

 revealed to him the shooting of birds, sufficiently distressing in itself, 

 for he loved birds as well as flowers, which he did not like to pull to 

 pieces even to learn the mysteries of their structure. Probaoly the 

 desire for the fire-arm grew first out of a sense of danger. The whole 

 subject of war was discussed by degrees, and he was led to feel that 

 there were some things dearer and nobler than life, and that men were 

 driven by the injustice and encroachments of each other to defend 

 themselves in this fearful way. But the whole subject of '-man's 

 inhumanity to man," was a painful one to so sensitive a child, who had 

 known only love and kindness, and the "gun-man" was a sad subject 

 often recurred to. He was not a timid child, however, and always 

 showed personal courage and pluck when the defenceless were assailed. 

 He was evidently meant to dwell in a robust body, for he may be said 

 to have had a robust soul. Nothing stirred him so powerfully as 

 narratives of bold enterprise. Preternaturally sensitive children are 

 apt to become selfish, but he always showed conscience and considera- 

 tion about his own wants. It troubled him that the articles he wished 

 for to gratifiy his taste for the study of science were so expensive, 

 but his parents tried to make him feel that they wished him to have 

 everything that would conduce to his improvement, and when in after 

 years he came into possession of his little patrimony, which he did 

 virtually long before he was of age, his mother told him that it had 

 been laid by for him at much personal sacrifice, that he might not 



