Home Life 



visible. He wore low collars with turned-down points and 

 a narrow black tie, which was, however, concealed by his 

 beard. He wa« not very particular about his personal 

 appearance, except that he always kept his hair and beard 

 well brushed and trimmed. 



In our early days at Grays we children were allowed to 

 run in and out of his study ; but if he was busy writing at 

 the moment we would look at a book until he could give us 

 his attention. His brother in California sent him a live 

 specimen of the lizard called the " horned toad," and this 

 creature was kept in the study, where it was allowed to 

 roam about, its favourite place being on the hearth. 



About this time he read " Alice through the Looking- 

 glass," which pleased him greatly; he was never tired of 

 quoting from it and using some of Lewis Carroll's quaint 

 words till it became one of our classics. 



Some of our earliest recollections are of the long and 

 interesting walks we took with our father and mother. He 

 never failed to point out anything of interest and tell us 

 what he knew about it, and would answer our numerous 

 questions if possible, or put us off with some joking refer- 

 ence to Boojums or Jabberwocks. We looked upon him as 

 an infallible source of information, not only in our child- 

 hood, but to a large extent all his life. When exploring 

 the country he scorned " trespass boards." He read them 

 " Trespassers will be persecuted," and then ignored them, 

 much to our childish trepidation. If he was met by in- 

 dignant gamekeepers or owners, they were often too much 

 awed by his dignified and commanding appearance to offer 

 any objection to his going where he wished. He was fond 

 of calling our attention to insects and to other objects of 

 natural history, and giving us interesting lessons about 

 them. He delighted in natural scenery, especially distant 

 views, and our walks and excursions were generally taken 



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