The Days of a Man 1883 



time of a water famine he used to ride about on 

 horseback to see who needed water, and had it 

 brought to them at his own expense from the stream 

 at St. Mary's Cray. To Mr. Parslow he left a life 

 pension of fifty pounds a year, and the rent of the 

 handsome "Home Cottage" in Down. Yet at 

 Keston, three miles away, the landlady of the 

 "Greyhound" had never heard of Darwin until 

 after his death. "There was then considerable 

 talk of his being buried in Westminster Abbey, but 

 nothing was said of him before." 



Leon In my work at the Jardin des Plantes I was brought 



j nto c } ose re i at i ons w i tn ) r . Vaillant, the ichthy- 

 ologist of the museum, a versatile and exact student, 

 the author of many important papers, especially a 

 monograph on our American "Johnny Darters." 

 I have very pleasant recollections of my work with 

 him and Firmin Bocourt, his associate of those days, 

 as well as with the faithful museum helper, Alex- 

 andre Thominot, who used to prepare specimens and 

 bring bottles and books for my work. Once Tho- 

 minot said: "It is remarkable how you Americans 

 travel. As for us, we have no need to; we are at 

 the center all the time." As I write, I learn from 

 Dr. Jacques Pellegrin, successor to Vaillant, of the 

 latter 's death in 1915, at the age of eighty-one. 



French naturalists while at work wear the blue 

 blouse of the peasant, a garment I also cheerfully 

 assumed. One day an American of some prominence 

 at home in Pittsburgh came into the room and, 

 seeing me in the native costume, asked through his 

 interpreter if I had ever heard of Jordan, a fish ex- 

 pert in the United States. I had, and it was pleasant 



