work grew rapidly. Thousands of children came into 

 these clubs. 



" Uncle John's " circular letters to teachers and to his 

 many nieces and nephews were intrinsically delightful. 

 As a writer, he was original and his writings had a 

 literary quality quite their own. Certain professors, 

 in no wise interested in this work in itself, have said that 

 they read everything " Uncle John " wrote because of its 

 literary merit as well as its originality. Certainly his 

 letters went straight to the hearts of children. His was 

 the great power of a great heart that reached out and 

 drew toward him the hearts of the young. " You are 

 the best loved man in the State," said one of his colleagues 

 to " Uncle John " one day, who saw the children gather 

 round him at a picnic, and this was true. 



" My slogan has been to give one thing to each of a 

 thousand children rather than a thousand things to one," 

 declared " Uncle John " in a Junior Naturalist Club, and 

 his tenderness and care for the mediocre child was always 

 one of his strongest characteristics. At the flower or 

 vegetable exhibits made by children at the fairs, " Uncle 

 John " would pick out some poor little bouquet and find 

 the owner, and with his word of commendation make 

 him feel that next year he would do better. The children 

 responded to his efforts in a marvelous manner. For 

 several years the number of letters from his nieces and 

 nephews ran up into the thousands, finally attaining one 

 year the number of 30,000. Never was a request from 

 a child willingly neglected, although acknowledgments 

 were made whenever possible through circular letters, 

 which were remarkable because of their personal quality. 

 He not only wrote to the children but he visited their 

 schools and talked with them and always gained their 

 rapt attention. His last work was to organize the child- 

 ren of the State into Junior (Jardeners Clubs, very much 

 on the plan of the Junior Naturalists. In this he was 

 as truly successful. 



When he retired to Bellwether in 1908, he still kept 

 up his relations with Cornell and did the work of field 

 agent for five years, and to the last his soul was in the 

 work with children. Only a few days before his last 

 illness he gave a lesson to a training class in Chautauqua 

 county, with all ot his old enthusiasm, interest, and 

 success. He was always ready to lend a helping hand, 



