84 



ciation." — Last Summer, walks were taken by this body 

 regularly on Saturday Eveuings, under the direction of one of 

 oui" own Members ; and I consider it a great point gained that 

 working men should have been initiated in such a practice, 

 — that in this way a taste should have been created for the 

 same pursuits as our own, pursuits so conducive to a healthy 

 state of the mind as well as the body, — and which by supply- 

 ing agreeable occupation, as well as by opening out som'ces 

 of self-improvement, help to fill up profitably the leisure 

 hours of a working man's life, and thereby add to his 

 happiness. 



It was stated in a paragraph in one of the Bath papers last 

 autumn, in which were mentioned some of the places visited 

 by the Widcombe Club, that the object of their walldng 

 excursions was — " to visit the places of natural and historical 

 interest, as well as to become acquainted with the wild flowers 

 and plants of the neighbourhood." 



I was glad to read this last sentence, for it is to such 

 Clubs that we may look for the addition of many rare 

 specimens to our Museums, which are more likely to be 

 hunted out when numbers are put upon the search, than 

 by single observers. And this seems not an unfit occasion to 

 say a word in reference to the local Museum, which we are at 

 this present time endeavouring to get together at the Literary 

 and Scientific Institution, and the help which our Club may 

 give in the matter. The circumstance may not be known to 

 all our Members that two ladies in Bath, a short time back, 

 made a munificent donation to the above Institution for the 

 purpose of starting a Museum of this character. I have before 

 expressed my belief (in a lecture read to the Club in 1865, 

 on Museums in general, and since printed and circulated 

 among the Members) that local collections are of far more 

 interest and value in provincial towns, as well to the in- 

 habitants of the place as to strangers visiting it, than any 



