102 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
I sat down ; and when I got to the end I 
was rolling on the grass with laughter. 
Getting myself together, I determined to 
know all about that young man before I 
slept. If he knew more than I did he was 
just the person I was in search of. So, de- 
termining to cultivate him, I made a col- 
lection, consisting of every variety of 
fresh- water plant within five miles of the 
pond— being very careful not to take 
a plant of which I did not know the 
class, order, species, and common name. 
In three hours I had a beautiful collec- 
tion, carefully .assorted, bunched, and 
washed. 
Kemaining in the woods till nightfall— 
for I had become a deplorable looking 
object, spattered over with mud, broken 
boots, torn clothing, and scratched face 
and hands— I preferred darkness to day- 
light when going through Brooklyn. 
Beaching the Museum, I paid my way in. 
Leaving the bundle of plants with the 
doorkeeper, I started in search of the 
Eastern fish linguist. 
There he was, pacing up and down, his 
hall deserted on account of the "great 
moral drama " going on in the " Lecture 
Hoom." Getting right in behind him, I 
ventured to remark, "Mister, there's a 
big rock on top of one of your eels," (it 
was only a conger eel that was having a 
good time under a stone), but he neither 
paused nor made me any reply, but paced 
right ahead. He evidently " knew eels," 
and I thought to myself I must bait again ; 
this time I'll try him with some Latin, 
for I hadn't forgotten my first lesson in 
scientific botany, taught me at the John 
Street seed store. Eight ahead of him 
was a tank containing a large mass of 
stonewort. Closing in on him again, I ex- 
claimed, "My gracious, what a beautiful 
specimen of Callitriche pedunculata." He 
turned short on me and asked what did I 
say? I replied, in a careless off-hand 
way, "Oh, I was merely admiring the 
robust growth of the Callitriche peduncu- 
lata.'" "Oh, y-e-s," he replied, at the 
same time cautiously and critically ex- 
amining me from head to foot, then up 
again. I knew I had hooked him this 
time. I could see he was bothered, and 
was trying to place me, but my broken 
boots, muddy and torn clothing, totally 
disguised me. 
"Are you interested in aquaria?" he 
asked. 
"A little," I replied. 
"Are you acquainted with fresh-water 
fishes?" 
"A few," I replied. 
Then, leading me to a tank, he asked me 
if I knew the name of a small fish that was 
swimming about in the water. 
I replied that its name was Pomotis 
chetadon, and that it was one of the hand- 
somest varieties of all the sun fish. 
Every minute he grew more pleasant, 
and I began to come out of my muddy 
disguise a little, for I had come to the con- 
clusion that I could match him on fresh- 
water aquaria; still I was anxious to 
learn. He now became very courteous and 
affable ; for this I felt thankful, as I had 
often desired to stock some of the large 
tanks free of charge, that I might study 
more closely the habits of fish and plants ; 
and I felt that now was my opportunity. 
Presently, he asked if I could obtain 
some plants for him, if he gave me a list 
of those he wanted, and what would I 
charge ? 
In going over the list, I crossed out all 
that were not in the bundle down stairs, 
which left me some seven varieties that 
were not down on his list, and I suspected 
he had never heard of them or seen them. 
Then, asking to be excused for a few 
minutes, 1 passed down stairs, returning 
again with the bundle, (Oh, it was a big 
one). Hardly taking time to cut the yards 
of string with which it was tied, I began 
displaying the plants on the floor, at the 
same time calling off their class, order, 
genus, species and common name. Fifteen 
varieties in all, not to mention many 
kinds of aquatic insects, larvae, and small 
molluscs, that went scrambling over the 
floor. 
Well, if you could have seen that young 
man from the East ; for a minute or two 
he hadn't a word to say. My last move 
had been executed so quickly and unex- 
pectedly, that I had taken him completely 
unawares. 
His admiration was so honest and out- 
spoken, that I felt already repaid for my 
