A REMINISCENCE OF SEDG WICK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 32, 7 February 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

A REMINISCENCE OF SEDG WICK.

How the Great Geologist Once Earned a Shilling. Among obher stories the recent biography of the eminent geologist Adam Sedgwick, who died in 1873, tells how the professor once earned a shilling. Did I ever earn a shilling ? Yes, 1 did, one day in Wales. I had had a long tramp on the hills and was walking home, dog tired and very weary, when 1 caught sight of fossils in some sbones laid by the wayside. So I sat down and began hammering away. Presently a lady came up and asked me several questions about bhe country, and how she was to get to a place the name of which I have now forgotten. She thanked me for my information and added, ' Poor man, you must find this very hard work.' 'Ye 3, indeed I do,' I replied ; whereupon she took out her purse and gave me a shilling. Nexb evening, to my greab amusement, she came to dine at the house where I was staying. I recognised her ab once, but she did nob know me in my altered dress. She was visiting Wales for the first time and was full of enthusiasm for tbe scenery and the people. 'They are sa obliging and so communicative,' she said; ' only yesterday I had a long conversation with an old man who was breaking stone on the road. He told me all I wanted to know, and was. so civil thab I gave him a shilling. I could not resisb the pleasure of saying. ' Yes, ma'am, you did, and here ib is ?' —' Melbourne Leader-.'