ladies. The officer
asked the nature of his offence, and when the ladies heard what it was
they were so much interested in such a strange creature as a
butterfly-loving militiaman, that they interceded for him, and finally
begged him off his expected punishment. The story shows us what sort
of stuff Edward was really made of. He felt so deep an interest in all
the beautiful living creatures around him for their own sake, that he
could hardly restrain his feelings even under the most untoward
circumstances.

When Edward was twenty, he removed from Aberdeen to Banff where he
worked as a journeyman for a new master. The hours were very long, but
by taking advantage of the summer evenings, he was still able to hunt
for his beloved birds, caterpillars, and butterflies. Still, the low
wages in the trade discouraged him much, and he almost made up his mind
to save money and emigrate to America. But one small accident alone
prevented him from carrying out this purpose. Like a good many other
young men, the naturalist shoemaker fell in love. Not only so, but his
falling in love took practical shape a little later in his getting
married; and at twenty-three, the lonely butterfly hunter brought back
a suitable young wife to his little home. The marriage was a very
happy one. Mrs. Edward not only loved her husband deeply, but showed
him sympathy in his favourite pursuits, and knew how to appreciate his
sterling worth. Long afterwards she said, that though many of her
neighbours could not understand her husband's strange behaviour, she
had always felt how much better it was to have one who spent his spare
time on the study of nature than one who spent it on the public-house.

As soon as Edward got a home of his own, he began to make a regular
collection of all the animals and plants in Banffshire. This was a
difficult thing for him to do, for he knew little of books, and had
access to very few, so that he couldn't even find out the names of all
the creatures he caught and preserved. But, though he didn't always
know what they were called, he did know their natures and habits and
all about them; and such first-hand knowledge in natural history is
really the rarest and the most valuable of all. He saw little of his
fellow-workmen. They were usually a drunken, careless lot; Edward was
sober and thoughtful, and had other things to think of than those that
they cared to talk about with one another. But he went out much in