50 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



the only reason lie could ever give for being a lover of 

 nature. 



At the age of ten months he could walk, and no 

 sooner had he found the use of his legs than he would 

 toddle out among the ducks, hens, cats, and dogs. A 

 litter of pigs greatly excited his curiosity, and when he 

 was missing and his mother asked, " Where's Tarn ? ' 

 the answer as a rule was, " Oh ! he's awa wi' the pigs." 

 The father of Edward was a weaver at one of the mills 

 outside Aberdeen, and the cottage in which they lived 

 was in close proximity to several small streamlets run- 

 ning into the sea. These were prolific in eels, worms, 

 crabs, and snails, and a neighbouring heap of refuse 

 provided him with beetles, insects, rats, and other kindred 

 vermin. To Edward they conveyed no sense of being 

 vermin, and his pinafore was full of such a miscellaneous 

 litter as he could pick up, and these he woidd take 

 home and deposit in drawers and cupboards, to the 

 horror of his father and mother, who had the clearing 

 out of these nests on numerous occasions. For these 

 tricks he was scolded and beaten, but neither seemed to 

 produce any effect upon him. If he was set to rock the 

 cradle of the baby who came after him, he would wait 

 until his mother's back was turned, and then off would 

 start on his wanderings, generally dragging any willing 

 boy or boys whom he could find to accompany him. 

 He became so troublesome as a wanderer, that his father 

 determined that he would one day take his clothes with 

 him to the factory. His mother had to go out for milk, 

 and previous to doing so had pinned a red flannel petti- 

 f oat roimd his neck. No sooner was she out of the 



