256 A Century of Science 



the morning for a brief errand, taking with me 

 one of my little sons. The brief errand ended in 

 spending the whole day and staying until late in 

 the evening, while the world of thought was ran- 

 sacked and some of its weightiest questions pro- 

 visionally settled ! Nor was either greenhouse or 

 garden or pond neglected. At such times there 

 was nothing in Parkman's looks or manner to 

 suggest the invalid. He and I were members of 

 a small club of a dozen or more congenial spirits 

 who now for nearly thirty years have met once a 

 month to dine together. When he came to the 

 dinner he was always one of the most charming 

 companions at the table ; but ill health often pre- 

 vented his coming, and in the latter years of his 

 life he never came. I knew nothing of the serious 

 nature of his troubles ; and when I heard the 

 cause of his absence alleged, I used to suppose that 

 it was merely some need for taking care of diges- 

 tion or avoiding late hours that kept him at home. 

 What most impressed one, in talking with him, 

 was the combination of power and alertness with 

 extreme gentleness. Nervous irritability was the 

 last thing of which I should have suspected him. 

 He never made the slightest allusion to his ill 

 health ; he would probably have deemed it incon- 

 sistent with good breeding to intrude upon his 



