TO LORD AVEBURY
Broadstone, Wimborne. June 23, 1908.
Dear Lord Avebury,— ... Allow me to wish every success to your Bill for preserving beautiful birds from destruction. To stop the import is the only way—short of the still more drastic method of heavily fining everyone who wears feathers in public, with imprisonment for a second offence. But we are not yet ripe for that.—Yours very truly,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
TO MR. E. SMEDLEY
Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset. December 25, 1910.
Dear Mr. Smedley,—Thanks for your long and interesting letter.... Man is, and has been, horribly cruel, and it is indeed difficult to explain why. Yet that there is an explanation, and that it does lead to good in the end, I believe. Praying is evidently useless, and should be, as it is almost always selfish—for our benefit, or our families, or our nation.—Yours very truly,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.