° 1912 J Brewster, //I ilfewo/ tarn; Henry Augustus Purdie. 11 



winters. Towards the close of his Hfe, he found much to attract 

 and interest him in Concord, JMassachusetts, where, at a log cabin 

 on a wooded hillside by the river, or at an old farm-house sur- 

 rounded by fields, orchards and woodland, he was my frequent 

 and ever welcome guest. Here the unconventional, out-of-door 

 life suited his simple tastes, and he could indulge as freely as he 

 chose in the botanical rambles which he so loved. If, as seemed 

 evident, he derived pleasure from those visits, he gave much more 

 of it than he received, endearing himself to every one about the 

 place by his unfailing kindness and thoughtfulness of word and 

 deed. 



It has been said that " every man's faults are the shadows of his 

 virtues." This was certainly true in Henry Purdie's case, for, 

 if not literally faults, the extreme gentleness, sensitiveness and 

 modesty, which were among his most pronounced attributes, 

 unquestionably operated to his worldly disadvantage, stifling what- 

 ever ambition he may have possessed and preventing him fiom 

 taking a place among scientific men and affairs which he might 

 otherwise have achieved, and to which he was fairly entitled by 

 reason of his shrewd intelligence, excellent critical ability and wide 

 knowledge and experience as an ornithologist and botanist. He 

 had high standards of personal honor and virtue, but was very 

 lenient with respect to the failings of others. His estimate of his 

 own ability and attainments was so genuinely modest that, when- 

 ever any one spoke of them in terms of appreciation, he always 

 seemed surprised and often incredulous. He was canny and very 

 knowing in a Scotch sort of way and had keen intuitive judgment 

 of human character — besides many other things — which was 

 rarely, if ever, mistaken. His temperament often made decision, — 

 about even small affairs, — almost a martyrdom, and thereby lost 

 him opportunities which should have been promptly grasped; but 

 nearly always his doubt hung on the fear that some one else might 

 be inconvenienced or disappointed. 



Most of the shortcomings just alluded to were obAiously the 

 direct and not unnatural outcome of an exceptionally large and 

 tender heart, of an abnormally sensitive conscience, of a deli- 

 cately refined nature, and, above all, of a deep and abiding concern 

 for the welfare and happiness of others. Even if such virtues must 



