New-York tribune., 1908-01-05
THE LITTLE SAXON"

When Charles Darwin, of whom the little folk
| read in The Tribune not long since, was four
teen years old boy whose name was destined
to be linked forever with his own was born in
a picturesque cottage the banks Of the beau
tif,l river Usk in the town of Usk in England.
The little folk will remember, of course, that
Darwin discovered the origin of species, but
some of them do not know, probably, that this
other boy made the same discovery at about
the same time Darwin wrote a great book on
the subject and this naturally attracted more
attention than the short paper by the other dis
coverer published in the Proceedings of a sci
entific society. That is why everybody knows
the name of Darwin, while this other name is
comparatively unknown. But all scientific peo-
pie know that the honor of making this great
discovery must be equally divided between
these two great men. Darwin himself knew it
and gladly acknowledged it, while the little
boy who was born in Usk never could say
enough in praise of Darwin. The two men
were great friends and never thought of being
jealous of each other. The second and less
known discoverer of the origin of species is now
living in England and is known as Alfred Rus
sci Wallace but when he lived in Usk the
country people used to call him 1.-The little
Saxon because OF his fine skin and his long
faxen hair.
Little Alfred, who born February =,
1923, lived at Usk only about five years, and
then his family moved to place called Hert-
ford. This was beautiful old town, with
many interesting things in it, which boys and
girls who live in new countries like America
do not have the opportunity Of seeing. Among
these were the old mills, which were built on
the banks of the rivers and streams of which
the country full.
One of the mills was owned by a cousin of
Mrs Wallace, and her children were some
times invited to tea there. Then, as a great
treat says Wallace in his autobiography. they
were shown the mill, with all its stranSr
wheels and whirling mstones, its queer little
pockets, on moving leather belts, carrying the
wheat I'D to the stones in a continual stream,
the ever rafting sieves and cloths which sifted
out the bean and the dark cavern where the
great. dripping waterwhee went on its per-
petual round.
The early circumstances of Charles Darwin
and Alfred Russell Wallace were very differ
ent While Darwin's father wealthy man,
able to give his children every advantage and
leave them well provided for at his death, Wal
lace's father, Thomas We're Wallace, though a
man of independent means, had a very small
income and kept growing poorer and poorer
all his life All his children had to go to work
as soon as possible and thu it happened that
at fourteen Alfred left home TO learn land sur
veying with his brother William, who was eigh-
teen years older than he. This appears to have
been hardship to him. however, for he wrote
to a friend. Il think you would like land sur
veying, about half indoors and half outdoors
work 1t is delightful, cutting all over the
country following the chain. and admiring the
beauties of nature. breathing the fresh, pure air
the hills, or in the noontide heat enjoying
our luncheon of bread and cheese in a pleasant
valley by the side of ripping brook" To
be sure, it not quite pleasant on cold
winter days but he forgot all that when he sat
down at night to a good dinner, feeling hun
cry enough to eat plates. dishes. and all"
1t was at the beginning of these years of land
surveying, which lasted till he was twenty-Cne,
that the future discoveler of the origin of spe-
cies first began to feel an interest in science.
Up to that time he knew much less Of nature
than the average schoolboy of to-day. for chill
dren We're not taught those delightful things
in those days. But his constant association with
Nature made him wish to get better acquainted
with the flowers. shrubs and trees he daily
met, but he did not know there books
that described every British plant, and his
brother took no interest in plants, although he
did care for fossils. nothing of this desire
till a few years later. At last. when he
book published by the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge which contained some Of
the information he th;rsting for. With
the help of this little book he succeeded in
learning great deal about plants. and then
with considerable difficulty he obtained other
books. He spent all his leisure time COL
lecting plants, identifying them in mis- books
and forming herbarium His brother
thought it all waste OF time. and Alfred him.
self had no idea that this pastime of his leisure
moments was the most important work he had
sver done. still less that il was going to make
his name immortal
When Alfred Russell Wallace was twenty-one
the surveying business had become rather slack
and as his brother had no work for him he
tried teaching for a year Then he went back
to surveying, combined with architecture and
engineering, in partnership with his brother
John. This not very successful and in the
end John decided to go to California and Alfred
went to the Amazon. having found that ne could
easily pay his expenses by selling the speci-
mems he expected to collect. This expedition.
which lasted four years. brought him considera-