ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE 525 



was geograpliy, ])iiiKi|iiilly hecaupc of tlic meaningless way in which it 

 was taught. During the last year of study at the grammar school as 

 the family were then in very straitened circumstances, he assisted in 

 the teaching of the younger boys in reading, arithmetic and writing. 



Wallace considered that his home life in TTertford was in many ways 

 more educational than the time spent at school. His father was a man 

 who enjoyed the pleasure of literature, and belonged to a book club 

 through which a constant stream of interesting books came to the house, 

 from which he read aloud to the family in the evenings. The father 

 earned a small income tutoring and as librarian of a small library, and 

 the son Alfred spent hours reading there, also. 



At the age of 13 or, 14 young Wallace left school, with a view to 

 learning land surveying. He stayed in London a short time with his 

 brother John, who was apprenticed to a master builder, and their even- 

 ings were most frequently spent in the "Hall of Science," a kind of 

 mechanics institute for advanced thinkers among workmen. Here he 

 heard many lectures by Eobert Owen, the founder of the socialist move- 

 ment in England, and took up philosophical reading, beginning with 

 Paine's "Age of Eeason" among other books. In the summer of 1837 

 he went with his brother William into Bedfordshire to begin his educa- 

 tion as a land surveyor, and practised for seven years in various parts 

 of England and Wales. 



After a time it was decided that he should try to pursue the clock- 

 making business as well as surveying and general engineering, and 

 Wallace considered that this was the first of several turning points in 

 his life, because changes in the business of the clock-making concern 

 with which he was connected at Leighton prevented his continuing this 

 work for more than a short period. He was delighted to take up again 

 in 1839 the employment of land surveying because of the opportunities 

 it afforded for out-of-door life. 



While at Neath in Wales there was not much demand for surveying, 

 and Wallace occupied himself in constructing a rude telescope with 

 which he was able to observe the moon and Jupiter's satellites, and he 

 developed much interest in studying astronomy and in the development 

 of astronomical instruments. But he says that he was chiefly occupied 

 with what became more and more the solace and delight of his lonely 

 rambles among the moors and mountains, nameh^, his first introduction 

 to the variety, the beauty and the mystery of nature as manifested in the 

 vegetable kingdom. 



His earnings were very meager, and he had little money for the 

 purchase of books. During the seven years he worked with his brother 

 he says he "hardly ever had moje than a few shillings for personal 

 expenses." It was during this period while most occupied out of doors 

 with the observation and collection of plants that he began to wi'ite 



