CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 27 
thought he should be studying a profession, was a waste 
of time most reprehensible in a boy who was dependent 
on his mother’s small means. His grandmother, however, 
upheld and encouraged him, and he always felt that he 
owed a great deal of his success in life to her. As a matter 
of fact, I think that he had an independent income from 
natural history at as early an age as any of his brothers 
from their professions; and he did not, as was prophesied, 
remain a burden on the family finances, so his grand- 
mother’s wisdom was justified. 
“My great-grandmother was a great resource to all 
her grandsons, especially to those of an industrious turn 
of mind, in regard to pocket money. While she was most 
liberal, she believed in inculcating habits of independent 
industry, and was therefore very much in the habit, so 
far as possible, of letting the boys earn such pocket 
money as she thought it wise for them to have. My 
father’s need for powder and shot usually led to the manu- 
facture of small articles such as silk winders, etc., whittled 
out of wood or bone, which his grandmother, and some- 
times his aunts, would purchase. My great-grandmother 
was in the habit of laying in a supply of coarse canvas 
which she would have tacked down to the floor of her 
garret as a foundation for home-made oil cloth; innumer- 
able coats of lead-colored paint being laid on by the boys 
of the family from time to time when they were in need 
of funds. ‘There was a fixed tariff per square yard for 
painting, and the grandson applying for remunerative 
work would be sent upstairs to lay on paint sufficient 
to bring him in the desired revenue. When enough coats 
had been put on, to make a good oil-cloth, the strip 
would be brought down stairs for use in some portion of 
the kitchen department of the house, or would perhaps be 
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