24 HIDDEN BEAUTIES OF NATURE 



tional. That it will prove to be a boon of elevating 

 and lasting character is a foregone conclusion. 1 



Rather than be idle, a workman, who gets but 

 intermittent employment at a certain harbour, has 

 made extensive and valuable collections of butter- 

 flies, moths, and birds, belonging to his own district, 

 and he lends them for exhibition whenever efforts 

 are made on behalf of any local charity. For a 

 similar purpose a gardener collects sponges, sea- 

 weeds, and other seashore treasures, and his cabinets 

 and glass cases are filled with lovely things which 

 would have passed away, had he not had a desire 

 to search for these attractive objects. He has read 

 about them, and has preserved and classified them. 



If a man has no resources beyond the toil ot 

 earning his daily bread, no hobby to which he can 

 turn in his spare moments, he is to be pitied, but 

 not envied. The life of Thomas Edward, the Scotch 

 naturalist, ought to be a stimulus to young people, 

 for it shows what can be done by unassisted power. 



Judging from the following we can hardly say 

 we have no time for a hobby or pastime. A certain 

 doctor, with a very large practice, which he attends 

 to with the strictest conscientiousness, has, during 

 his short summer holidays, excavated from the chalk 

 cliffs nearly 3,000 fossil specimens. Here again the 

 national collections at South Kensington are eclipsed, 

 for this gentleman has many specimens that are 



1 The Rothschild Museum, at Tring. 



