328 Things he has not done. (CHAP. XVIII. 
“Tf it had not been for the industry of my children,” he 
says, “my wife and myself would have been in starvation 
these many years back, as all that I have been making 
could scarcely have kept myself in bread. So that is some- 
thing. But if ever I complained about my life, I never 
meant it to be in that way. Had the object of my life 
been money instead of nature—had I pursued the one with 
half the ardor and perseverance that I did the other—I 
have no hesitation in paying, that by this time I would have 
been a rich man. 
“But it is not the things I have done that vex me so 
much as the things that I have not done. I feel that I 
could have accomplished so much more. I did not want 
the will, but I wanted the means. It is that consideration 
that hurts me when I think about it, as I sometimes do. I 
know what I have done, and from that I can conceive how 
much more I might have done had [ got but a little help. 
Think yourself—only think for a few moments—of a poor, 
illiterate working-man struggling against every sort of pri- 
vation for so many years, with no other object in view but 
simply to gain a little knowledge of the works of creation 
—think of that, and say if I can be blamed because I oc- 
casionally grieve that I had no help, when it would have 
enabled me to do so much more than I have already done. 
For these reasons I sometimes consider my life to have been 
a blasted one—like a diamond taken from the mine, and, 
instead of being polished, crushed to the earth in a thou- 
sand fraginents.” 
Still, Edward must, to a great extent, have enjoyed a 
happy life. He was hopeful and cheerful. He had always 
some object to pursue, with a purpose. That constitutes 
one of the secrets of happiness. He had an interesting 
hobby: that is another secret. Natural history is one of 
the most delightful of hobbies. He had the adventure, the 
chase, the capture, and often the triumph of discovery. He 
must have found great delight in finding a new bird, a new 
