20 EAELY DAYS 



father rose early, worked late, and seldom went out to enter- 

 tainments. Like his "wife, he was, as has been said, a strong 

 Evangelical, seeing the hand of an overruling Providence in 

 every turn of events, and accepting bereavements, or the 

 prospect of them, with a pious resignation coloured by the 

 warm conviction of future reunion. In the letters of both 

 husband and wife, hopes for the future are regularly ex- 

 pressed with the pious qualification ' if God wills,' and 

 present sorrows borne as * the will of God.' Speculative 

 thought beyond evangelical limits had no part in this house- 

 hold ; they and theirs should uphold their own observances 

 boldly before ' the scoffer and the sceptic.' The children 

 were brought up simply, strictly, without indulgence it 

 seems, indeed, with some measure of rigidity to be 'God- 

 fearing, honourable, hardworking members of their society. 

 If the outlook was in some respects narrow, compensation lay 

 in the intellectual activities that found scope in varied scientific 

 pursuits, in drawing and some music, and intercourse with men 

 distinguished in science and travel. There is an obvious danger 

 of young folk becoming priggish and didactic under such 

 conditions, which tend to isolate them from the ordinary 

 boys and girls of their world and to make them despise the 

 thoughtless amusements and unfruitful occupations of their 

 fellows ; the saving salt for the young Hookers lay in their 

 real enthusiasm for living pursuits and the freshness of their 

 interests. 



The family was five in number : William Dawson, Joseph's 

 senior by fifteen months (b. April 4, 1816, d. January 1, 1840) ; 

 Joseph Dalton, b. June 30, 1817; Maria, b. May 8, 1819; 

 Elizabeth, b. November 15, 1820 ; and Mary Harriette, b. 

 October 2, 1825, who died of consumption on June 19, 1841. 



Keferences to these early days are scattered and fragmentary. 

 It is very clear that a strain of delicacy ran through the family, 

 which showed itself in susceptibility to consumption. Joseph 

 as an infant was * croaky Joe,' with a tendency to cough and 

 croupy hoarseness ; William, shortly after his early marriage, 

 was threatened with the disease, and was therefore sent to make 

 a home and a medical career in Jamaica, where he was carried 



