68 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



schools, and its reputed learning. It was natural that 

 he should feel very enthusiastic about this project, and 

 long before the time came for him to think of moving 

 his collection to the granite city, he had planned what 

 works on Natural History he would be able to buy 

 with the proceeds of his exhibition, and that he would 

 also be able to obtain a microscope for a more minute 

 study of some of his specimens. Aberdeen was to be 

 to him a veritable El Dorado, and no one can say that 

 this young man, who had in the spare moments saved 

 out of his labours as a shoemaker, should anticipate 

 that this venture of his would place him in such a 

 position that he would be able to devote the whole of 

 his time to the pursuit of the natural history studies 

 which had become a very necessity of his existence. 

 It was not that he had a soul above his shoe-soles, for 

 it is a very interesting fact that Edward was acknow- 

 ledged to be about the best workman which his 

 employer had, and was always entrusted with work to 

 which special attention was needed. His promises 

 with regard to the time that certain work were very 

 different from the majority of the promises of shoemakers 

 in general, for he could always be depended upon. 



The British Isles provide very numerous examples 

 of young men who have struggled manfully and nobly, 

 toiling diligently in the honest, if humble, calling 

 which they have followed for a livelihood, yet given to 

 burning midnight oil in the acquiring of knowledge, or 

 following patiently a certain bent of study, overcoming 

 difficulties by which thousands around would have 

 been baffled and defeated. Among this great number 



