MEN WHO HAVE SUCCEEDED. 



i8i 



into print, and brought on him a bur- 

 lesque by Dr. Lindley, the eminent horti- 

 culturist and botanist, of England, in an 

 early number of the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 of London — a cut with Meehan's viper still 

 further evolutionized till its tail had become 

 sagittate, so that it could spear a mouse 

 and pass it to its mouth without moving it- 

 self. Professor Brown Goode, of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, took up the question and 

 proved by overwhelming evidence that the 

 eight-year-old boy was right. A cut of the 

 " Meehan viper," as it originally appeared 

 in the Gardeners' Chronicle, December i6, 

 1848, is herewith reproduced." 



It was not that his 

 father and mother did 

 not appreciate the val- 

 ue of an education but 

 because the schools 

 were not at hand, that 

 his education was ne- 

 glected, except for 

 such rudiments as his 

 mother could find time 

 to give him, until the 

 age of ten, when he 

 was given two years at 

 a Lancastrian school, 

 after which he went 

 into regular work in 

 gardening under his 

 But success was in him, 

 could not bar it. He 

 determined to know, and spent his evenings 

 in the study of botany and horticultural 

 books and literature, thus early evidencing 

 that habit which in later life brought him, 

 with only two years of school life, the well 

 earned reputation of scholarship in specific 

 lines, superior to that of hundreds whose 

 names are adorned with B.A,, Ph.D., M.A., 

 or other titles. 



Aptly in connection with his life have the 

 following lines by Lowell been quoted : — 



Fig. 2306. 

 Meehan's Viper. 



father's training, 

 and circumstances 



No man is born into the world, whose work 



Is not born with him— there is always work, 



And tools to work withal, for those who will 



And blessed are the horny hands of toil. 



The busy world shoves angprily aside 



The man who stands with arms akimbo set, 



Until occasion tells him what to do — 



And he who waits to have his tas^k marked out 



Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. 



At twelve years of age he began contri- 

 buting articles of scientific value to the pub- 

 lic press, and thereby was brought to the 

 notice of the members of the Royal Werner- 

 ian Society, and made a member while still 

 a mere lad of about fifteen ! While still in 

 his teens, young Thomas formed an excel- 

 lent plan for the continuation of his studies ; 

 he associated together a band of young men 

 who met at nights to take up languages, 

 mathematics, chemistry and studies, the one 

 most advanced in a study always taking the 

 lead of the others, — a scheme of work after- 

 ward developed into our well known 

 Mechanics' Institutes. 



Positions of Trust. — His first position was 

 that of Head Gardener to Paymaster Vaux, 

 and during the next five years he filled 

 several engagements, each one giving him 

 valuable opportunities for gaining a know- 

 ledge of details of horticulture. This was 

 especially true of his engagement at Kew 

 Gardens, where he had charge of houses 

 containing plants from all parts of the world. 

 These opportunities he made the most of ; 

 for example, at Kew he made a catalogue of 

 1600 varieties, studying up the history of 

 each. At the same time he continued to 

 contribute to the public press, and thus 

 made the most of fevery opportunity for ad- 

 vancement. 



Through a friend he was induced at the 

 age of twenty-two to come to America, 

 where his first engagement was with Robert 

 Buist, as superintendent of nurseries ; af- 

 terward he filled several positions of trust, 

 as, for example, that of manager of Bar- 

 tram's gardens, and in 1852 that of Cope's 



