SiOd^RAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOSfePfl DUXCAX PUT.VAM. ^27 



indiiFerence may have exerted a depressing- influence, there was at 

 least one heart nearest to the source of life, that never failed in its 

 unwavering' encouragement, its proud appreciation and unfaltering- 

 devotion. Without wishing- to intrude within these sacred precincts, 

 it is not too much to say that the l)oy became what he was, and ac- 

 complished what he did largely through the direct influence of a 

 mother's love, an influence in fact recognized by hiiu in not a few 

 touching- incidents in his later years, and by no means to be omitted 

 in any appreciative notice of his progressive life. 



With these preliminary considerations having- a direct l)earing on 

 our general subject, we are now prepared to follow u]) the succes- 

 sive ste])S bv which his brief history is marked. 



The sylvan shade of his accidental birth place was not long after 

 supplemented by an equally attractive home overlooking the pic- 

 turesque valley of the Upper Mississippi. Here the boy, passing 

 though the usual vicissitudes of childhood, gi-adually developed his 

 physical and mental faculties under the combined action of common- 

 school education and home influences. Jt was perhaps not much to 

 his disadvantage that an early constitutional weakness secured more 

 of home education, and less of school routine; a rapidly increasing 

 family of boys, soon afforded the means of diversion, and the stimu- 

 lus of a variety of tastes and dispositions. These latter were only so 

 far restrained as was necessary for the general welfare, while all 

 needed appliances in the way of books, games, and mechanical ap- 

 paratus were liberally supjilied. 



Not averse as it would seem to boyish sports, and especially such 

 as required skill and practical dexterity of eye and hand, Ik^ took 

 less delight in more boisterous games, or such as required severe 

 bodily exercise. Surrounded thus early in life by everything to at- 

 tract the senses and refine the tastes, it is not to be wondered at that 

 the insect world witii its strange transformations, its delicate mark- 

 ings, its bright colors, and even its obscure habits of growth, shcndd 

 have engaged the attention of his thoughtful and studious mind. 



Accordingly we soon see, in connection with a youngei- brother, a 

 growing interest in the capt\ire and rearing of moths and butterflies, 

 and during occasional absence a lively boyish correspondence is kept 

 up on the subject of mutual discoveries and observations. 



Intimately connected with his future work as an entomologist was 

 an early attention to drawing, at first in the form of grotesque cari- 

 catures adapted to the tastes of children, but soon succeeded by a 



