xvi INTRODUCTION 



shine and flowers of Spring, and he remarked to 

 his wife that he would often go there in future to 

 watch the birds building their nests. 



Before that time came, he was himself laid to 

 rest in that very spot in sure and certain hope of 

 a blessed resurrection. 



The above imperfect sketch fails to give the charm 

 and magnetic attraction of the man, and for this 

 one must go to his works, which for those who 

 knew him are very illuminating in this respect. 

 In them one catches a glimpse of his plan for 

 keeping young and cheerful in " the land of regrets," 

 for one of his charms was his youthfulness and 

 interest in life. He refused to be depressed by 

 his lonely life. " I am only an exile," he remarks, 

 " endeavouring to work a successful existence in 

 Dustypore, and not to let my environment shape 

 me as a pudding takes the shape of its mould, 

 but to make it tributary to my own happiness." 

 He therefore urges his readers to cultivate a hobby. 



" It is strange," he says, " that Europeans in 

 India know so little, see so little, care so little, 

 about all the intense life that surrounds them. 

 Xhe boy who was the most ardent of bug-hunters, 

 or the most enthusiastic of bird-nesters in England, 

 where one shilling will buy nearly all that is known, 

 or can be known, about birds or butterflies, main- 

 tains in this country, aided by Messrs. B. &. S., 

 an unequal strife with the insupportableness of an 

 ennui-smitten life. Why, if he would stir up for 



