350 CHAELES ROBERT DARWIN. 



to this day-school," he says, " my taste for natural 

 history, and more especially for collecting, was 

 well developed. I tried to make out the names of 

 plants, and collected all sorts of things, shells, 

 seals, franks, coins, and minerals. The passion for 

 collecting, which leads a man to be a systematic 

 naturalist, a virtuoso, or a miser, was very strong 

 in me, and was clearly innate, as none of my sisters 

 or brothers ever had this taste. . . . 



" I must have been a very simple little fellow 

 when I first went to the school. A boy of the 

 name of Garnett took me into a cake-shop one day, 

 and bought some cakes, for which he did not pay, 

 as the shopman trusted him. When he came out I 

 asked him why he did not pay for them, and he in- 

 stantly answered, ' Why, do you not know that my 

 uncle left a great sum of money to the town on 

 condition that every tradesman should give what- 

 ever was wanted without payment to any one who 

 wore his old hat and moved it in a particular man- 

 ner ? ' and he then showed me how it was moved. 

 He then went into another shop where he was 

 trusted, and asked for some small article, moving 

 his hat in the proper manner, and of course ob- 

 tained it without payment. 



" When we came out, he said : ' Now, if you like 

 to go by yourself into that cake-shop (how well I 

 remember its exact position) I will lend you my 

 hat, and you can get whatever you like if you move 

 the hat on your head properly.' I gladly accepted 

 the generous offer, and went in and asked for some 



