The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-08-07

Q
threatened with blindness.
For four months the Baltimore oc-
ulist whom he consulted sentenced him
to a complete blackout as far as read
ing was concerned When he demurred
he was told that it was that-or else.
The blow, as sometimes happens,
proved benefit. Appeals for help
which DR.. Harmed sent to colleges and
universities throughout the country
brought instant response. Some of
the foremost botanists in the nation
took over the proof reading and the
book came out with the endorsement
Of leading scientists to meet with en-
thusiastic acceptance on the part of
scholars and the public.
Critic Apologies
In the flood Of favorable reviews
and congratulatory letters which fol-
lowed its appearance there was only
one acid note but that was corrosive
DR.. Harmed was taken severely to task
by fellow botanist for treating a
scientific subject in popular vein and
ralled fore and aft by the writer's pen.
Several years after, in distant State,
the two met for the first time Dr.
Haned's critic offered a handsome
apology. His own learned tome, written
in accord with the theories he had laid
down to DR.. Harmed, was so dry that
no one would read it. He couldn't even
give it away.
On the strength of his achievement
DR.. Harmed, without a PhD. degree
to his name, was elected member
and fellow of the American Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Science
and other learned organizations. In
vitations to lecture on his hobby
poured in-and still do. He is in con-
slant demand for talks at schools and
colleges and has a file of 400 hand
colored lantern slides which he uses to
bait his hearers into sharing his en-
thusiasm for wild flowers. Invitations
from women's clubs and garden clubs
he usually refuses, preferring to de-
vote his energies to young people and
spread his gospel rather than to in
form those who, presumably, are al
ready interested
Wears His HOnors Easily
DR.. Harmed wears his honors and
accepts his adulation which is heaped
upon him by those who regard him as
an oracle with genuine humility He
ignores all opportunities, and there
have been several good ones, to turn
his hobby into cash. He simply isn't
interested in money, other than as it
supplies the necessities of life and
some modest luXuries. His home is
located on the principal residential
street in Oakland, but it is an unpre-
tentious frame cottage, not so fine
as many others there He drives
good car. He wears a small diamond
in an old-fashioned setting in the four
finland knotted at the base of his bat
wing collar. The insignia of the lodge
to which he belongs hangs on his
heavy gold watch chain Now and then
he and his wife take real trip, al
ways to some spot where wild flowers
grow. Away from home he invariably
selects his hotel table for the flowers
that adorn it rather than for the view.
A Long Walk To School
AS a youngster he walked three
miles each way to and from the near
est one-room school for his three RS.
His copy book was handmade and the
hard wooden bench where he sat to do
his sums with a scratchy pencil on
slate had no back When he was IA,
he was sent to the Oakland public
school and while he was there his
mother died. At McKeesport, Pa,
where he went to live with an uncle
who was Methodist parson, he en-
tered the high school with a schedule
which included botany taught" by an
instructor who had never taken
course in the subject.
When he came back to Garrett
county he taught school for year and
then apprenticed himself to pharma-
cist in Oakland. Two years of appren-
tlceship was more than enough to
convince him that he needed still more
education if he was to succeed. as he
intended to do, in the drug business.
At the Philadelphia College of Phar-
macy and Science, where he completed
his pharmaceutical training, he had
the luck to have as one of his profess
sors the erudite John M. Maisch, a
descendant of the great John Linnaeus,
who reawakened in DR.. Harmed the
love of wild flowers which his mothers
death had overshadowed and stimu-
lated a special interest in medicinal
plants.
Gives Collection To School
Back in Oakland after completing
his course he began to botanize in
earnest. Before long he had an her
barium Of more than 400 specimens
mounted and on display in his own
drug store. They attracted so much
interest that he decided they would be
valuable for study in the local schools,
so he gave them away and began an