CHAPTER XIII.
LITERATURE AND CORRESPONDENCE.
THE REV. MR. SMITH.
A great misfortune befell Edward in 1854: his friend the Rev. Mr. Smith died. He was a man whose richly cultivated mind and warm heart endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. He was almost the only man of culture in the neighbourhood who appreciated the character of Edward. He not only made himself his friend, but became his helper. Edward was under the impression that people looked down upon him and his work, because he was a poor shoemaker. There were other persons who knew of Edward’s perseverance, self-denial, and uncomplainingness, and also of his efforts to rise into a higher life. But they did not help him as Mr. Smith did. The true Christian gentleman treated the poor man as his friend. He treated him as one intelligent man treats another. The shoemaker from Banff was always made welcome at the minister’s fireside at Monquhitter.
Mr. Smith helped Edward with books. He lent him such books as he had, from his own library; and he borrowed books from others, in order to satisfy Edward’s inquiries about objects in Natural History.
He wandered about the fields with him, admiring his close observation; and he urged him to note down the facts which he observed, in order that they might be published to the world.
In one of the last letters addressed by Mr. Smith to Edward he observed: “It is, I conceive, the great defect in the natural sciences that we know so little of the real habits and instincts of the animal creation. In helping to fill up this gap, your personal minute and accurate observations will be of no little service; although individuals, solemn and wise in their own conceit, may look upon some of them as so strange as to be altogether fabulous; and that for no better reason than because during all their lives,—having exercised their faculties only in eating, drinking, and sleeping,—the things related have never come under the notice either of their eyes or their ears.”
We find, from a letter of Professor Dickie, that Mr. Smith endeavoured to obtain employment for Edward as a preserver of British birds for the Natural History collection in King’s College, Aberdeen. Many kindly letters passed between Edward and the minister of Monquhitter, sometimes about newly-discovered birds; at other times about the troubles and sicknesses of their respective families. Mr. Smith’s suggestion that Edward should note down his observations for publication was not, as we have seen, without effect, as the latter afterwards became a contributor to the Naturalist, the Zoologist, the Ibis, the Linnæan Journal, and other Natural History publications.
THE PARTRIDGE.