sherman living near his home was an excellent hand at this and gave
him his first lessons, and presently he developed into a really expert
taxidermist, while his brother made the cases in which he mounted and
exhibited his specimens.

His interest in birds excited an interest in flowers and plants and
finally in moths and butterflies. The taste for nature study is like
the taste for olives. You have to cultivate it, and once the taste is
acquired you become extremely fond of it. Grenfell became a student of
moths and butterflies. He captured, mounted and identified specimens.
He was out of nights with his net hunting them and "sugaring" trees to
attract them, and he even bred them. A fine collection was the result,
and this, together with one of flowers and plants, was added to that
of his mounted birds. In the course of time he had accumulated a
creditable museum of natural history, which to this day may be seen
at Mostyn House, in Parkgate; and to it have been added specimens of
caribou, seals, foxes, porcupines and other Labrador animals, which in
his busy later years he has found time to mount, for he is still the
same eager and devoted student of nature.

During these early years, with odds and ends of boards that they
collected, Grenfell and his brother built a boat to supply a better
means of stealing upon flocks of water birds. It was a curious
flat-bottomed affair with square ends and resembled a scow more than a
rowboat, but it served its purpose well enough, and was doubtless the
first craft which the young adventurer, later to become a master
mariner, ever commanded. Up and down the estuary, venturing even to
the sea, the two lads cruised in their clumsy craft, stopping over
night with the kind-hearted fishermen or "sleeping out" when they
found themselves too far from home. Many a fine time the ugly little
boat gave them until finally it capsized one day leaving them to swim
for it and reach the shore as best they could.

At the age of fourteen Grenfell was sent to Marlborough "College,"
where he had earned a scholarship. This was not a college as we speak
of a college in America, but a large university preparatory school.

In the beginning he had a fight with an "old boy," and being victor
firmly established his place among his fellow students. Whether at
Mostyn House, or later at Marlborough College, Grenfell learned early
to use the gloves. It was quite natural, devoted as he was to
athletics, that h