144 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
delay. . .... .. .. . After the marriage my father’s 
belongings were transferred to the Churchill residence. 
This was at first a house belonging to a Mrs. Stevenson 
near the College; this house is, or was lately, the rectory 
of the Episcopal church. About two years after the 
marriage they moved to a house next door then owned 
by a Mr. Fetter. In the rear there was a building which 
my father took possession of for a workshop and study. 
‘“My mother never had any especial taste for Natural 
History, although always very much interested in any- 
thing which my father was doing. At the time of his 
courting, he was exceedingly busy with his college work 
and also studying very hard. After he became engaged, 
he was anxious of course to spend his evenings with his 
fiancée and yet did not feel that he could take all that 
time from his studies; so he fell into the habit of taking 
a book with him in order that he might carry on his studies 
and still have the pleasure of sitting in the room with her. 
Being an early riser and often taking long walks with 
his class, making collections, my father would be apt to 
grow drowsy towards the end of the evening and was 
apt towards its close to fall asleep over his book; so when 
the hour arrived at which my mother knew he expected 
to leave, she would wake him up and send him home; at 
least, this is the tale which she used to tell in after life 
and as she was a truthful woman, it is probably not 
exaggerated! 
‘Another story which she told of those days was that 
on one occasion when she was walking with him in the 
country they came to a little stream in which there were 
some curious fish which he wished to secure. He had no 
net, and my mother very obligingly lent him her bonnet 
with which he proceeded to catch the finny treasures. 
