48 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



books. There was nothing of any special interest 

 about the interior that needs description, except my 

 father's study, which was a room characteristic of 

 its late occupant ; it overlooked the lawn, and a 

 peep of the road to the neighbouring village of 

 Burnby could be caught from it. Such traffic as 

 there was along this road added a measure of life 

 to the prospect. The furniture of the room was dis- 

 tinctly old-fashioned and absolutely unique. A quaint 

 old folding-down oak table stood in the centre of 

 the study ; at this my father invariably wrote, seated 

 in a curious high-back chair, always in exactly 

 the same position, and did his work. He had the 

 window on his left hand, for he had the greatest 

 objection to be in a room with his face to the light ; 

 his reason for this being lest the light should try 

 his eyes, of which he took the greatest care, fre- 

 quently bathing them in cold water, always wearing 

 a green shade at night, never trying them needlessly, 

 and invariably using candles in preference to any 

 other kind of artificial light. These precautions 

 seem to have had the desired effect, for he retained 

 his sight wonderfully well, even to extreme old age, 

 though few could have used their eyes more than 

 he. His library was never an extensive one. The 

 chief part of it was arranged in his study, partly in 

 a carved old oak bookcase, and partly in recessed 

 shelves ; it consisted mainly of books and treatises 

 on subjects connected with natural history, with a 

 certain number of antiquated volumes of divinity, 

 genealogy, classics, and other subjects. Nearly 



