20 EAKLY DAYS 
father rose early, worked late, and seldom went out to enter- 
tainments. Like his wife, he was, as has been said, a strong 
Evangelical, seeing the hand of an overruling Providence in 
every turn of events, and accepting bereavements, or the 
prospect of them, with a pious resignation coloured by the 
warm conviction of future reunion. In the letters of both 
husband and wife, hopes for the future are regularly ex- 
pressed with the pious quahfication * if God wills,' and 
present sorrows borne as * the will of God.' Speculative 
thought beyond evangelical limits had no part in this house- 
hold ; they and theirs should uphold their o^^ti observances 
boldly before 'the scoffer and the sceptic' The children 
were brought up simply, strictly, ^vithout indulgence— it 
seems, indeed, with some measure of rigidity— to be God- 
fearing, honourable, hardworking members of their society. 
If the outlook was in some respects narrow, compensation lay 
in the intellectual activities that found scope in varied scientific 
pursuits, in drawing and some music, and intercourse with men 
distinguished in science and travel. There is an obvious danger 
of young folk becoming priggish and didactic under such 
conditions, which tend to isolate them from the ordinary 
boys and girls of their world and to make them despise the 
thoughtless amusements and unfruitful occupations of their 
fellows ; the saving salt for the young Hookers lay in their 
real enthusiasm for living pursuits and the freshness of their 
interests. 
The family was five in number : William Dawson, Joseph's 
senior by fifteen months {h. April 4, 1816, d. January 1, 1840) ; 
Joseph Dalton, h. June 30, 1817; Maria, h. May 8, 1819; 
Ehzabeth, h. November 15, 1820; and Mary Harriette, h. 
October 2, 1825, who died of consumption on June 19, 1841. 
Keferences to these early days are scattered and fragmentary. 
It is very clear that a strain of delicacy ran through the family, 
which showed itself in susceptibility to consumption. Joseph 
as an infant was * croaky Joe,' with a tendency to cough and 
croupy hoarseness ; William, shortly after his early marriage, 
was threatened with the disease, and was therefore sent to make 
a home and a medical career in Jamaica, where he was carried 
