Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-02-06

as Il schoolboy. Il let school rather
below the common standard in intel
lcct" His "wiseSt" father seems to
have dcspaired of the growing; youth.
1t staggered him when his parent It'd
him fatty, You care for nothing but
shooting dogs and rat catching, and
you will be a disgrace to yourself and
all your family"
However humane (and the rats may
rise against him on the Judgment day
O. this, Darwin always dwcllS loving,
ly on his mighty shooting exploits.
No wonder that in after life Il wholly
lost all pleasure from poetry Of amy
kind" Shakespeare was impossible.
lie had read his grandfathcr's wor,i
on natural history, "Eoonomia," in his
early years twice. which one would
suppose must have inspired his own
work, but 1t left mo effect" nor on
being read again fifteen years later.
First he would follow his father and
be doctor. y year or two at the
schools sickcncd him. and the dissoct-
ing table gave him the horrors. Then
he dabblCd in geology, but soon de
cidcd that of all OdiOuS professions the
worst was that of a gcologist. AS
lad he developed Il craze for collecting
letter franks, seals, coins, minerals,
anything and no one but himself was
interested. He would take long soil
tary walks. Then he took Il fancy fer
beetles and developed an enthusiasm
for catching them. He tells how en-
stripping Il bit of bark from Il tree he
spied two uncommon specimens. These
he secured, one in each hand, when
out popped an entirely new kind cf
beetle. In his eagcrnesS not to lose it
he put one of the others in his mouth
while he grabbed the third, but the
prisoner gave him dose of fluid 50
acrid and nauScous that he had to let
him go Another lesson in humane
ness.
SO successful was Darwin in forget
ting everything he had learned but the
humane act of shooting that when he
decided to enter Cambridge in 1927 he
had to engage Il private tutor to teach
him his Greek alphabet over again and
rub up the classics on which he had
spent two Industrious years. Why en-
ter Cambridge? Because some one had
the happy thought that Darwin would,
at any rate, make Il r"sSably good
Church of England parSon, and he
thought so too. 1t is a humane profcS-
sion. All the good he got from all his
studies which were helpful throughout
his life he credits to Euclid and Palcy's
Evidences of Christianity" Before he
had blOSSOmed into n Surplced deacon
Darwin fell under the fascination of
science.
Professor Henslow, the great bota-
mist, honored Darwin with unwonted
friendship. Darwin was dubbed by
his fellow students, "The man who
walks with IIenslow," a genial sugges-
ton that his reverence bOrderod on
worship. He says somewhere that
Hcnslow's friendship had the greatest
influence on his life. The right man at
the right period in ones history can do
more for us than all the schools an
preachers and libraries HcnSlow i'm
planted a living interest in the despiScl
geology. botany and other such studies.
Under Sidgwick, the great geologist,
Darwin developed unsuspected powers.
Yet-"How | did enjoy shooting" On
one of his visits to the family home in
the old town Of Shrewsbury he found
new interest in looking ut the familiar
big bowldcr known as the bell stone.
The local wise man had long had but
one answer to questions as to how it
had got there. "Ah, the world will come
to an end before any one will know the
secretr' Now that Darwin had learned
how the sliding of the vast primeval
glaciers had transported these mysteri-
Gus powders across Wales and left
them in his town he felt repaid for his
pains. Il gloried in the progress of
geology"
Looking back" he writes, Il infer
that there must have been something
in me little superior to the common
run of youth" or these and other dis
tinguished men would not have allow
ed him to associate with them so in
timately. The privilege had its pen
alties. He had his little humiliatlons.
One day he happened to find shell in
spot where he thought no shell
should be. He rushed with it 10 Sidg-
wick, expecting fine compliments. To
his surprise, the great geologist did
not think 1t the prize he had sup
posed. Nothing before" says Oar
win, had ever made me thoroughly
realize, though l had read the scien-
tifc books, that science consists in
grouping facts so that general laws
or conclusions can be drawn from
them"
Here we have the open secret of
Darwin's greatness.
lie was now StartOd on his life MOrll