Characteristics 



a delightful characteristic. ' The inimitable puns of T. 

 Hood were,' he said, ' the delight of my youth, as is the 

 more recondite and fantastic humour of Mark Twain and 

 Lewis Carroll in my old age.' " 



Wallace loved to give time and trouble in aiding young 

 men to start in life, especially if they were endeavouring 

 to become naturalists. He sent them letters of advice, 

 helped them in the choice of the right country to visit, 

 and gave them minute practical instructions how to live 

 healthily and to maintain themselves. He put their needs 

 before other and more fortunate scientific workers and 

 besought assistance for them. 



'' The central secret of his personal magnetism lay in 

 his wide and unselfish sympathy," writes Prof. Poulton.* 

 " It might be thought by those who did not know Wallace 

 that the noble generosity which will always stand as an 

 example before the world was something special — called forth 

 by the illustrious man with whom he was brought in contact. 

 This would be a great mistake. Wallace's attitude was 

 characteristic, and characteristic to the end of his life. 



" A keen young naturalist in the North of England, taking 

 part in an excursion to the New Forest, called on Wallace 

 and confided to him the dream of his life — a first-hand know- 

 ledge of tropical nature. When I visited ' Old Orchard ' in 

 the summer of 1903, I found that Wallace was intently 

 interested in two things : his garden, and the means by 

 which his young friend's dream might best be realised. 

 The subject was referred to in seventeen letters to me; it 

 formed the sole topic of some of them. It was a grand 

 and inspiring thing to see this great man identifying him- 

 self heart and soul with the interests of one — till then a 

 stranger — in whom he recognised the passionate longings 



1 In Nature, Nov. 20, 1913, p. 348. 

 227 



