138 GEOEGB JOHN EOMANES I88I- 



according to the ' Life of Darwin,' ^ must have been 

 precisely similar to that of Darwin, and was probably 

 unconsciously copied by my father. He never used 

 the gesture except when very much tickled at hearing 

 some amusing story ; when the climax of the story 

 was reached he would burst into a peal of hearty 

 laughter, at the same time bringing his hand heavily 

 but noiselessly down upon his knee or on the table 

 near him. 



When we were at Greanies, our greatest delight 

 was ' to go out shooting with father.' We used to 

 tramp for hours together over turnip and grass fields 

 behind my father and the gamekeeper. We used to 

 enjoy the expeditions so much better if our father 

 was the only sportsman, for then we had him all to 

 ourselves. We were very small then ; our ages were 

 ten, nine, and six respectively, but we were good 

 walkers and we never became tired. What little 

 sunburnt, healthy, grubby children we were to be 

 sure ! When Bango, the setter, pointed at a covey, 

 we all had to stand quite still while our father walked 

 forward towards the dog. Directly the covey rose 

 we all ' ducked ' for safety. I shall never forget the 

 joy and pride we felt when a bird fell, and we ran 

 with shouts of triumph to pick it up. Then the 

 delight of eating lunch under a hedge or in a wood ! 

 That was a time of jokes and fun, and we talked as 

 freely and unrestrainedly as we liked about all kinds 

 of subjects. Then came some more tramping in the 

 turnips, and we would journey homewards, a weary 

 but very happy little party. The counting of the 



' Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, by Francis Darwin, vol. i. p. iii. 



