AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



7 



to write in my journal the notes of the day and to change the dryers in my 

 extemporized botanical press, consisting of several pieces of thick board, 

 cut the proper length, a lot of old newspapers, and a heavy, smoothly 

 waterworn stone for the top of the pile to afford the requisite pressure. 

 Many, many a time this bedtime task found me almost too exhausted by 

 the day's labor to accomplish. These long periods of overwork undoubtedly 

 laid the foundation for much of the semi-invalidism of many later years. 



There was, of course, respite in seasons when farm work was not pressing, 

 when much spare time could be found for collecting trips and the prepara- 

 tion of specimens. My excursions were generally limited to the radius of a 

 few miles from the farm, adjoining which, in my early days, were a few 

 small patches of virgin forest. But the ax had already begun to thin their 

 ranks, and before my collecting days had fairly begun, these grand old 

 remnants of former forest conditions were swept away and the land devoted 

 to farm purposes or allowed to grow up in a shrubby second-growth. 



My excursions extended to the famous new-red sandstone quarries in 

 East Longmeadow, my first visit to which is still vividly remembered. 

 Other trips were made to Mount Tom, with boon companions — sportsmen 

 who had become amateur taxidermists and enthusiastic general collectors 

 of birds, beasts, fishes, reptiles and insects, for the Springfield Museum of 

 Natural History, under the auspices of the City Library Association. 1 

 One memorable trip of several weeks duration was made to visit relatives 

 in Windsor County, Vermont. The physical character of the country 

 was in strong contrast with that of my home surroundings, and the fauna 

 and the flora were perceptibly different. Most interesting of all the many 

 excursions in this new T field was the ascent of Mount Ascutney, and many 

 samples of the rocks of the general region visited were taken home for my 

 cabinet. A second trip to this region, made in August of a later year, 

 included a visit to the gold washings at Springfield (Vermont), where I 

 spent a night in camp and gained much valued information respecting the 

 methods there employed in securing the precious gold dust and diminutive 

 nuggets that barely paid for the time and labor expended. 



My several terms at Wilbraham Academy prior to the winter of 1861-62 

 had been a serious draft upon my father's limited resources, with interest 

 still to be met on farm mortgages and a considerable family to support, 

 and, eager as I was for such advantages, I could not consent to accept his 



1 These men were Caleb W. Bennett, a house and sign painter, who will receive later mention in 

 this narrative; Solomon Stebbins, a paper hanger; and Charles Emery, a draughtsman at the U. S. 

 Armory at Springfield. Their leisure time was holidays and Sundays, which they intelligently and 

 enthusiastically devoted to natural history collecting, and their evenings to the study and preparation 

 of specimens for exhibition in the Springfield Museum. 



