The Press. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1901. PROFESSOR HUXLEY AND CHILDREN.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11010, 6 July 1901, Page 6

The Press. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1901. PROFESSOR HUXLEY AND CHILDREN.

One of tine most interesting works of recent biography is "Tbe Life and Letters of "Thomas Henry /Huxley," and" there is no no more charming phase of ibis character revealed than his love for little children. The outside world know him as a hardworking, learned man of science, with leonine head and shaggy eyebrows, who delighytedj in polemical warfare, and was perhaps the most trenchant controversialist that ever put pen to paper. In his tetters to ibis intimate friends, and above all in his home life, he is unveiled to us as a man of the most tender sympathies, the most playful humonr. In tie first fifteen or twenty years of his married life, in his straggle to keep bis head above water, he bad scarcely any time to devote to his children. The "lodger," ac he used to call himself, who went out early and came back late, could sometimes spare hatf an hour just before or after dinner to draw wonderful pictures for the little ones, and these, we are told, were memorable occasions. Later on, he used to deligbit them -with sea stories and tales c£ animate, and- occasionally with geographical sketches suggested by the gravels of Harapstead Heaffe. IMlfc regular "shop" he would to them. I At Christmas he delighted the by carving wonderful beasts, generally out of orange peel. That he was rather" proud of 'bis skill in this respect we gather from a letter which he sent to his eldest daughter, when her marriage had taken her away from the usual Ghristapaas gathering. He sends her one of his best specimens, and writes:—"The inflammation of the " pudding was highly successful—in fact, " Vesuvian,'not to say JEtnaic—and I have "never yet attained so high a pitch in " piggyg*^ 6 *" , a* on this occasion. The "*pwim*a X •ftflloM, trapped in * gold*a

"cere-ckrtfc, and with the remains of his f'last <iinner in the proper region, will prove "to yoii tife beigfcta fbovhick the, creativg "power of the true artastjnay soar. I " call it * *Piggun»,*r a Harmony in Orange " and White.' Preserve it, my dear child, «vi*fcnoa erf the paternal genius, when "those lights an 3 fugitive productions " wfckifr a» buried in th* philosophical tran"sactKHta and ebewhere are forgotten." When he returned to Eastbourne in bos old age, his love of children brimmed over, and he made endless fun with hie grandchildren. O&e little mite, on iher first visit, when her grandfather was trying to ingratiate himself with a vast deal of nonsense, is reported to have remarked to tbat eminent philosopher—** Well, you are tae " curioastest old man I ever seen." Another somewhat older, we are told, developed a great liking for aetacoiwniy Tinder hier grandfather's tuition. One day a. visitor, entering "unexpectedly, was astonished to find the pair of them kneeling on the floor in the hall, before a large sheet of paper, on which the Professor was drawing a diagram of the solar system on a large scale, with a little pellet and a large ball to represent earth and sun. Readers of "David Grieve" will be interested to learn that Mrs Humphry Ward took the character of Sandy from Professor Huxley's little grandson, Julian, "a curly-haired rogue, alternately

" cherub arid pickle." The boy was about four years old when Professor Huxley walked in one day from the garden, where he had been watering his plants, and said— "I like that chap! I like the'boy, he looks " you straight in the face and disobeys you. "T told him not to go on* the wet grass

' again. He just looked up boldly, straight

"at mc, as much as to say s 'What do you "mean by ordering mc about, , and deliber- " ately walked on to the grass." A year later this delightful little rebel was reading the immortafi "Water Babies," wterein fun is poked at hds grandfather's name among the authorities on water babies and waiter beasts of every description. Desiring more light on the subject he wrote to the Professor as follows:—"Dear Grandfather,

" —Have you seen a water-baby? Did you "put it in a bottle? Did it wonder if it "could get out? Can I seft it some day?— "Your loving Jttman." Huxley's reply, neatly printed, letter by letter, so that th.c little chap could read it for himself, is given in facsimile in the book, and is a delightful example of what a letter to a child should be.

No one can lead Huxley's "Life" without realising what a* very fine personality his was, apart altogether from his contributions to science. He was never a rsligiouunian in tlie ordinary* sense, because bis particular bent of mind would not allow him to accept any of the doctrines usually associated with religion. That he was a good man, however, everyone who reads his biography will admit. Sir Spencer Walpole, who was his colleague for some years, wntee: — 'Of all " the men I have ever known his ideas and " his standard were—on the whole—the "highest. He recognisedtliattine fact of his ■'religious vievas imposed on him ti.e duty "of living the most upi-ight of lives, and I "am very much of the opinion of a little) "child now. grown into an accomplished "woman, who when she was told that Pro"fessor Huxley v liad no hope' of..future re- " wards, and no fear of future punishments, " emphatically declared: 'Then I think Pro"fessoT Huxley is the beat man I have ever "known. , "■„. It is not. for us to pass judgment on his views. That his death' was an irreparable loss to the world, only the most narrow-minded and uncharitable bigot would attempt to deny. :