Early Years 



having been architects of no mean skill, combining with their 

 art sound business qualities which placed them in positions 

 of civic authority and brought them the respect due to men 

 of upright character and good parts. 



During the chequered experiences which followed the 

 marriage of Thomas Vere Wallace and Mary Ann Greenell 

 there appears to have been complete mutual affection and 

 understanding. Although Wallace makes but slight refer- 

 ence to his mother's character and habits, one may readily 

 conclude that her disposition and influence were such as 

 to leave an indelible impression for good on the minds 

 of her children, amongst her qualities being a talent for 

 not merely accepting circumstances but in a quiet way 

 making the most of each experience as it came — a talent 

 which we find repeated on many occasions in the life of 

 her son Alfred. 



It is a little curious that each of these great scientists 

 should have been born in a house overlooking a well- 

 known river — the home of the Darwins standing on the 

 banks of the Severn, at Shrewsbury, and that of the 

 Wallaces a stone's throw from the waters of the romantic 

 and beautiful Usk, of Monmouthshire. 



With remarkable clearness Dr. Wallace could recall 

 events and scenes back to the time w^hen he was only 4 

 years of age. His first childish experiment occurred about 

 that time, due to his being greatly impressed by the story 

 of the ^' Fox and the Pitcher '' in ^sop's Fables. Find- 

 ing a jar standing in the yard outside their house, he 

 promptly proceeded to pour a small quantity of water into 

 it, and then added a handful of small stones. The water 

 not rising to the surface, as it did in the fable, he found a 

 spade and scraped up a mixture of earth and pebbles which 

 he added to the stones already in the jar. The result, how- 

 ever, proving quite unsatisfactory, he gave up the experiment 



9 



