Charles Darwin : his life told in an autobiographical chapter and in a selected series of his published letters / edited by his son, Francis Darwin.

  • Charles Darwin
Date:
1902
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Charles Darwin : his life told in an autobiographical chapter and in a selected series of his published letters / edited by his son, Francis Darwin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    iuto a cake sliop oue day, and bought eome cakes for whicli Le did not pay, as the shopman trusted him. When we came out I asked him why he did not pay for them, and he instantly answered, Why, do you not know that my uncle left a great sum of money to the town on condition that every tradesman should give whatever was wanted without payment to any one who wore his old hat and moved [it] in a particular manner ? and he then showed me how it was moved. He then went into another shop where he was trusted, and asked for some small article, moving his hat in the proper manner, and of course obtained it without payment. When we came out he said, Now if you like to go by yourself into that cake-shop (how well I remember its exact position), I will lend you my hat, and you can get whatever you like if you move the hat on your head properly. I gladly accepted the generous offer, and went in and asked for some cakes, moved tlie old hat, and was walking out of the shop, when the shopman made a rush at me, so I dropped the cakes and ran for dear life, and was astonished by being greeted with shouts of laughter by my false friend Garnett. I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, but I owed this entirely to the instruction and example of my sisters. I doubt indeed whether humanity is a natural or innate quality. I was very fond of collecting eggs, but I never took more than a single egg out of a bird's nest, except on one single occasion, when I took all, not for their value, but from a sort of bravado. I had a strong taste for angling, and would sit for any number of hours on the bank of a river or pond watchinc^ the float; when at Maer* I was told that I could kill the worms with salt and water, and from that day I never spitted a living worm, though at the expense probably of some loss of success. Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before that time, I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, simply Irom enjoying the sense of power; but the beating could not have been severe, for the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure as the spot was nenr the house. This act lay heavily on my conscience, as is shown by my remembering the exact spot where the crime was committed. It probably lay all the heavier from my love of dogs being then, and for a long time alterwards, a passion. Dogs seemed to know this, for I was an adept in robbing their love from their masters. * The house of bis uuole, Josiah Wedgwood, tlio younger.