Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-08
DARWIN AT HOME.
Personal PeculIaTItIes of the ScIen-
tIst-His Mansion In Kent.
CHICAGO Inter.Ocean.

clSeu OF prdlSeu-aS Darwin cannot De
laid away In less royal tomb than
Westminster Abbey without the arrest
OF attention, and people will read with a
keen interest whatever is said of the phi
losopher, his characteristics, and espe-
CHILLY any home incidents that seem to
make the man live again with flesh and
blood. Mr.. Ernst Won Hesse Wartegg,
whose wife is Nine Minnie Hauk, is in
the city for few days, en- route to pur-
sue his scientific investigations in the
Rocky Mountain region of Arizona and
Old Mexico, and yesterday favored the
Inter Ocean with incidents of his &C
quaintance with Darwin, whom he cor
responded with for years, and several
times visited, by request, at his pleasant
home in Kent, an hour and half's re.
move from London.
"Our correspondence, said Chevalier
Wartegg, was scientific chiefly, and |
was enabled to give him some material,
collected on my journeys, to aid his
study of insectiverous plants"
When did you see Darwin last2"
"The fall o. $780, ct the time o. my
last visit. He was then preparing his
voluminous wo k Earth Worms the
last that he wrote"
''Was he really such homely man
any real suggestion, as asserted, of a
possible truth in his theory of the descent
of man5"
Darwin often laughed at that idea,
which he heard preached with the best
good humor, and took as a good joke.
But there was nothing of the ape in him.
And yet he was of a marked Individual
ty of appearance-One to be commonly
termed ugly. Americans with whom /
come in contact speak of his i'll favored
looks, however, with too much empha-
sis, and I seldom hear o1e of them speak
Of monkeys without bringing him into
the proposition as the best sample and
supporter of his own theory. This is, of
course, extreme, though probably found
ed on certain caricatures of photographs
or prints that have obtained currency
No one would ever have called
Darwin handsome, but when you
stood before him and entered into
conversation with him he had an
imposing presence. He was tall,
slender. and in his later years slightly
bent. His white beard correspondent
with the white fringe of hair. his
head having been almost completely
bald in front these many years, owing,
no doubt, to his life of unremitting in
tensely hard work. The most pronounced
feature of his face was his snow-white,
shaggy eye brows, which projected over
his eyes and gave him a somewhat Ian
guild and dreamy look. But his beauti-
full blue eyes made amends, especially
when he conversed or lectured on scien-
tific subjects, his eyes frightened and
his features were lit up till the beholder
was really fascinated, as well by the re-
Elected intellect in his countenance as by
his clearness and felicity of speech. AS
a speaker he was far happier-more lucid
and direct-than in his writings"
"What we're his mannersF"
"In manners and general appearance
he looked like the typical English coun-
try gentleman, and so deported himself
that the neighborhood farmers, as we'll
as country gentlemen, always spoke of
him in the highest terms, although some
of the most pronounced religious people
called him an infdel, and wanted to
rouse feeling in the community against
him. They failed signally, however,
thanks to sturdy English common sense
and enlightenment"
ellis home reflected the philosophers
taste. supposeY'
Eyes, measurably. 1t was a fine old
house In Kent, an hour and half by
rail and drive from London, the pretty
village being called Down, near Becken-
ham. Here he lived very many years,
having for an intimate neighbor Sir John
Lubbock, known for his enthusiasm on
the subject of ants, viz: without the u.
OF course, with such mutual tendencies,
the antiquarian and Darwin were kim
dred souls. The residence was of the
old English country style, with wild
vines and ivy covering it up to the sec
ond story. The drawing room was ele-
gantly furnished; and up to this point
no visitor would suspect that he was in
the home of the greatest naturalist of
the time. the surroundings differing in
no way from those of other English gen.
tlemen.
Darwin was a retired, almost shy
man. and though receiving with cor
diality and even warmth of hospitality
and welcome all who came-and his call
ers were legion-he seldom or never re-
turned the compliment of visit He
was too busy, first, and secondly, shrank
innately from society,""
GAS a converser, you said he excelledf"
"Yes, pre-eminently. He never talked
on his hobbies, as one might say, unless
preached to him. and then he sometimes,
for fact, got very long winded, the
pitch of his voice growing with his in
terest, but one could never tire of bis
clear periods in which the sincerest con-
viction was evidently blended with curl
Gus fact and original philosophy. ASH
said, he was much better talker than
writer, although his rank as an author
is well known"
HE died rich, ] supposeP'
"Worth probably quarter of mil.
lion, good deal of it in his generous
estate at Down. His widow, the daugh-
ter of Wedgwood, the great porcelain
maker. is a lady of charming social
qualities, entertaining her guests in be-
witching manner. One of his daughters
five children survive him-was the
most faithful Of secretaries to him, and
grateful and indeed indispensable was
the service, his letters averaging twenty
day, from all parts Of the world and on
all manner of scientific aud literary sub
1ects, not few of the writers of course
being those fiends, autograph seekers.
A place of great recreation for him
was his conservatory, with an outlying
series of lighthouses. In most of them
there were no flowers. but everything
was of the moss order. At my last
visit he was Accordingly interested in
the experiment of planting a shrub with
the top down and the roots up, to furth-
er illustrate his theory of reverse
~-o".n. Long before ~
= '- - A10 naQ the branch
" peculiar tree put with its leaf end
into the ground and top root rising as
the highest bough, and curious enough
he succeeded in perpetuating life, show
ing as he philosophical that light and
heat and warmth are the essential condi-