160 



THE OOLOGIST 



goods, and in 1864 became an agent 

 for the mills at a large salary in 

 those days. 



Mr. Wade's entre into the publish- 

 ing field was the "Fanciers Journal." 

 That he was in love with his chosen 

 subject and made a success in the line 

 undertaken; (poultry and pets), could 

 be seen from his early studying of 

 birds in the wild bush. 



We next find him associated in con- 

 nection as editor with S. L. Willard, 

 the founder of "The Oologist"; taldng 

 over full charge of this egg magazine 

 with the volume V, November, 1879. 



In March, 1881, he had drawn 

 around him practically through the 

 columns of "The Oologist" all the old 

 and young ornithologists and oologists 

 of the United States; so, the coming 

 into existence of a larger magazine 

 under the title of the "Ornithologist 

 and Oologist," (for a full history of 

 "The Oologist," struggles see that is- 

 sue) March, 1881, Vol. VI. O. & O. 



Mr. Wade's earlier field notes first 

 appeared in "Familiar Sciences," and 

 "Truths of Nature," both publications 

 being his also. He writes in a plain 

 forcible and direct manner, to the 

 point, without anj^ rules of grammat- 

 ical phases, but in the every day ex- 

 pressions of a natural man's teach- 

 ings, as he met them. 



The "Ornithologist and Oologist"' 

 was to carry out his aims, to assist 

 the younger students of American Orni- 

 thology; but its readers and support- 

 ers, were men well versed in the avis 

 world, as such, men as Capt. Bendire, 

 Judge J. X. Clark, Dr. Atkins, Judge 

 Norbrook, Rev. C. M. Jones, Fred T. 

 Jenks, J. Calhoun, H. D. Minot, Snow- 

 don Rowland, W. W. Coe, Guy C. Rich, 

 Edgar Small, Wm. Brewster, Robert 

 Ridgway, Frank Rathbun and many 

 others. A good part of them have not 

 passed over the great divide. 



I became a correspondent of Mr. 



Wade's in 1881, and in 1890 of Aug- 

 ust, spent some days of close com- 

 munion at his Dorchester home, where 

 he showed me many of those highly 

 prized drawings of Alexander Wilson, 

 in pencil and color, showing all the 

 true bird character he portrayed so 

 faithfully; also, was seen the old gun 

 that had brought to his hand the 

 many new birds he described. At this 

 time Mr. Wade had brought together 

 over half of Wilson's original drawings, 

 many of them having never been pub- 

 lished, including the first one ever 

 drawn in color by Wilson, and pre- 

 sented to the wife of Alexander Law- 

 son, the engraver of his plates; many 

 of Wilson's letters were seen that 

 have never been published. 



At this time, it was the idea of 

 Mr. Wade to get together all possible 

 material of Wilson's, to publish a me- 

 moir. That this was given up some 

 years later, a letter dated October 1, 

 1902 to me, mentioning the fact about 

 his old manuscripts of Wilson's, shall 

 be presented to the Academy of Nat- 

 ural Sciences, of Philadelphia, and the 

 ornithological library will undoubted- 

 ly go to Japan. (Mr. Wade's library 

 contained a Wilsoniana and Audu- 

 boniana set.) This never took place, 

 as he wished particular, as in relation 

 to Japan, of which coutnry he was 

 greatly interested in and their art 

 works. His treatment of-.thp Japanese 

 students coming to America for, ad- 

 vancement, brought him in close con- 

 nection with Japan's officials who 

 were quick to see and recognize his 

 work for their countrymen, and by 

 their means, had the Mikado confer 

 ui)on him the reward of "Fifth Order 

 of the Double Light Raising Sun," an 

 honor never before given to an Ameri- 

 can citizen. His home contained some 

 of the finest art objects in ancient 

 bronze, lackas, rare vases and lanterns; 

 one bronze he prized above all others. 



