Alfred Russel Wallace 



when far removed from all civilisation during his travels 

 on the Amazon and in the Malay Archipelago. 



A somewhat amusing instance of this is found in a letter 

 to his sister, dated June 25th, 1855, at a time when he 

 wanted a really capable man for his companion, in place 

 of the good -natured but incapable boy Charles, whom 

 he had brought with him from London to teach collecting. 

 In reply to some remarks by his sister about a young man 

 who she thought would be suitable, he wrote : ^' Do not 

 tell me merely that he is ^ a very nice young man.' Of 

 course he is. . . .1 should like to know whether he can 

 live on rice and salt fish for a week on occasion. . . . Can 

 he sleep on a board ? . . . Can he walk twenty miles a 

 day? Whether he can work, for there is sometimes as 

 hard work in collecting as in anything. Can he saw a 

 piece of wood straight ? Ask him to make you anything 

 — a little card box, a wooden peg or bottle-stopper, and 

 see if he makes them neat and square." 



In another letter he describes the garden and live stock 

 he had been able to obtain where he was living; and in 

 yet another he gives a long list of his domestic woes and 

 tribulations — which, however, were overcome with the 

 patience inculcated in early life by his hobbies, and also 

 by the fact that the family was always more or less in 

 straitened circumstances, so that the children were taught 

 to make themselves useful in various ways in order to 

 assist their mother in the home. 



As he grew from childhood into youth, Alfred Wallace^s 

 extreme sensitiveness developed to an almost painful degree. 

 He grew rapidly, and his unusual height made him still more 

 shy when forced to occupy any prominent position amongst 

 boys of his own age. During the latter part of his time 

 at Hertford Grammar School his father was unable to pay 

 the usual fees, and it was agreed that Alfred should act 



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