i87l WAUGH'S ESTIMATE OF HUXLEY 



379 



he was speaking. There were no tricks in his talk. He did 

 not seem to be trying to persuade you of something. What 

 convinced him, that he transferred to others. He made no 

 attempt to misrepresent those opposed to him. He sought only 

 to let them know himself. . . . Even the sparkle of his humour, 

 like the sparkle of a diamond, was of the inevitable in him, 

 and was as fair as it was enjoyable. 



As one who has tried to serve children, I look back upon 

 having fallen in with Mr. Huxley as one of the many fortunate 

 circumstances of my life. It taught me the importance of mak- 

 ing acquaintance with facts, and of studying the laws of them. 

 Under his influence it was that I most of all came to see the 

 practical value of a single eye to those in any pursuit of life. 

 I saw what effect they had on emotions of charity and senti- 

 ments of justice, and what simplicity and grandeur they gave 

 to appeals. 



My last conversation with him was at Eastbourne some time 

 in 1887 or 1888. I was there on my society's business. " Well, 

 Waugh, you're still busy about your babies," was his greeting. 

 " Yes," I responded, " and you are still busy about your pigs." 

 One of the last discussions at which he was present at the 

 School Board for London had been on the proximity of a pig- 

 gery to a site for a school, and his attack on Mr. Gladstone on 

 the Gadarene swine had just been made in the Nineteenth 

 Century. "Do you still believe in Gladstone?" he continued. 

 " That man has the greatest intellect in Europe. He was 

 born to be a leader of men, and he has debased himself to be 

 a follower of the masses. li working men were to-day to 

 vote by a majority that two and two made five, to-morrow 

 Gladstone would believe it, and find them reasons for it 

 which they had never dreamed of." He said it slowly and with 

 sorrow. 



Two more incidents are connected with his service on 

 the School Board. A wealthy friend wrote to him in the 

 most honourable and delicate terms, begging him, on public 

 grounds, to accept £400 a year to enable him to continue 

 his work on the Board. He refused the offer as simply 

 and straightforwardly as it was made ; his means, though 

 not large, were sufficient for his present needs. 



Further, a good many people seemed to think that he 

 meant to use the School Board as a stalking horse for a 



