ncer F. Baird never turns a deaf ear. How this distinguished author
can attend to so many and such varied duties with his laborious
investigations, and can so successfully keep up a large correspondence
with perhaps one thousand scientific associations of nearly every nation
of the universe, is a difficult thing to imagine; but the popular and
much beloved Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,
seemingly ubiquitous in his busy life, does all this and much more.
America may well feel proud of this man of noble nature, shedding light
and truth wheresoever he moves, encouraging alike old and young with his
kindly sympathy;--now taking his precious moments to answer with his own
busy hand the question in the letter of some boy naturalist about
beasts, birds, reptiles, or fishes, with which epistles his desk is
always covered; now stimulating to further effort the old man of science
as he struggles with the cares of this world, striving, sometimes
vainly, save for this ever ready aid, to work out patiently theories
which are soon to blaze forth as substantial facts. The young generation
of naturalists, which is soon to fill the place of their predecessors,
have in this man the type of all they need ever strive to attain. How
many, alas, will fall far short of it!

Since boyhood the counsels of this friend had guided me on many a
journey of exploration. He had not deserted me even in this experiment,
which my friends called "your wildest and most foolish undertaking." He
had obtained from the Light House Board a general letter to the
light-keepers of the United States, signed by the naval secretary, Mr.
Walker, in which the keepers were authorized to grant me shelter, &c.,
when necessary. I did not have occasion to use this letter more than
twice during my journey. Having secreted my canoe in the coarse grass
of the lowland, I trudged, with my letter in hand, over the sands to the
house of the light-keeper, Captain Hatzel, who received me cordially;
and after recording in his log-book the circumstances and date of my
arrival, conducted me into a comfortable room, which was warmed by a
cheerful fire, and lighted up by the smiles of his most orderly wife.
Everything showed discipline and neatness, both in the house and the
light-tower. The whitest of cloths was spread upon the table, and
covered with a well-cooked meal; then the father, mother, and two sons,
with the stranger within their gates, thanked the Giver of