xe Proceedings. 
be paid, but he had no money to meet it. After three weeks he 
was deep in debt, and knowing this was agonizing to him. By 
the end of the fourth week he had completely lost hope; no one 
came to his collection ; what could he do? No man could ever 
have been in greater trouble. He had his four weeks’ rent to 
pay, his wife and five children to support, and nowhere to 
remove his collection to. To take his life was the thought that 
struck him—a cruel one, too, as it meant only the transmission 
of the trouble on to others—and he made for the sea. On 
reaching the beach he even went so far as to remove his hat and 
coat, and was on the point of making the fatal plunge, when a 
flocks of sanderlings lit upon the sands near him. This took 
his attention, and he was struck by seeing a larger and darker 
plumaged bird of different habits to the others. His curiosity 
was at once aroused, and he for the moment ceased to think of 
the reason of his visit to that spot. The bird rose, and he 
followed, stopped at last by reaching the mouth of the Don. The 
birds disappeared, and he became a sane man, and no longer had 
a wish to carry out his purpose. He retraced his steps, and 
wended his way homeward. 
Only one course remained open to him, and that was to sell 
his collection for what it would fetch. It was another big blow 
for the poor fellow, and he had at last to part with his fine 
collection for £20 10s. 
I cannot do better than quote from the ‘ Life of Thomas 
Edward,’ the following :—‘‘Kdward had left Banff on the 31st of 
July, full of hope; after six weeks he returned to it full of despair. 
He had gone to Aberdeen with his collection, accompanied by his 
wife and family ; he returned from it alone and on foot, without a 
single specimen of his collection, and without a penny in his 
pocket.’”’ What must that poor fellow’s feelings have been ? 
Time heals our troubles, and so it did Edward’s; and after a 
short time we see him once again at Banff under a roof with his 
wife and bairns. 
It was not long before his ruling passion again reigned 
supreme, and we find him again starting on his nocturnal 
excursions. His wife must have understood her husband’s 
nature exactly, and, instead of opposing him as many wives 
might well have done, and been excused for so doing when a 
large family of bairns are dependent upon a husband, she ap- 
pears to have been his greatest help, and went so far as to spend 
her earnings in buying bottles for his insects, and powder and 
shot for his gun. 
This system, that had grown on him, of stopping out all night 
in all weathers, at last told its tale, and Edward was subjected 
to attacks of cold and rheumatism. 
During one of his outings with his gun he had a very serious 
