i6 PETER HENDERSON. 



remembered him well and told our envoy last spring that 

 ■" Peter was a shrewd, kindly lad and most industrious." 



Mr. Kitchen also has reason to remember him from an 

 experience he suffered at the hands of Peter and two or 

 three other kindred spirits. He had just been married 

 and was bringing his bride home to his cottage, and 

 when he reached there, he found that all the doors and 

 windows had been so effectually barricaded that it took 

 considerable time to gain an entrance. 



But the time had arrived when he was to turn his face 

 to the New World, at that time a terra incognita in Britain 

 to the gardening profession, the land, however, destined 

 to be the real arena of his labors and triumphs. Before 

 following him to America, we must note an incident 

 connected with his departure from " Bonnie Scotland" 

 which reveals another and. delicate phase of his character. 

 This anecdote only became known to us after his death. 



It seems that Miss Melville, daughter of Lord Melville, 

 had been very kind to both Peter Henderson and Hugh 

 Wilson, and just before their departure for America, 

 hoth young men wished to show their appreciation of her 

 thoughtfulness. They had little to give, but decided 

 that they would present her with their herbariums. In 

 some way -Mr. Wilson presented his first, and in return 

 Miss Melville forced a sovereign into his unwilling hands. 



When Hugh reported to Peter what had been done, he, 

 fearing that his motives might be misconstrued if he 

 presented the herbarium in person, arranged that it 

 should not be sent to Miss Melville until the day he sailed 

 for New York. When it is remembered that he arrived 

 in New York with but three sovereigns in his pocket, this 

 episode will show the mettle of the youth, in putting 

 beyond his reach, what would have been a considerable 

 addition to his cash capital. 



