f the tropics in its glory and
luxuriance exceeds even the language of Humboldt to describe. A
Persian writer could alone do justice to it, and if he succeeded he
would in England be called the 'Grandfather of all liars.'"

No one can read the life of Darwin without feeling great respect for
his perseverance. His faithful devotion to his work can teach us all a
useful lesson. Says his son:

"No one except my mother, knows the full amount of suffering he
endured, or the full amount of his wonderful patience. For all the
latter years of his life she never left him for a night, and her days
were so planned that all his resting hours might be shared with her.
She shielded him from every possible annoyance, and omitted nothing
that might save him trouble, or prevent his becoming overtired, or
that might alleviate the many discomforts of his ill-health. I
hesitate to speak thus freely of a thing so sacred as the life-long
devotion which prompted this constant and tender care. But it is, I
repeat, a principal feature of his life, that for nearly forty years
he never knew one day of the health of ordinary men, and that thus his
life was one long struggle against the weariness and strain of
sickness. And this cannot be told without speaking of the one
condition which enabled him to bear the strain and fight out the
struggle to the end."

That Darwin himself appreciated the goodness of his wife can be seen
from the following tribute which has appeared in _More Letters of
Charles Darwin_. It does not appear in the _Autobiography_ because
Mrs. Darwin was living at the time of its publication. Where in all
literature can a more tender and beautiful appreciation be found?--

"You all know your mother, and what a good mother she has been to all
of you. She has been my greatest blessing, and I can declare that in
my whole life I have never heard her utter one word I would rather
have been unsaid. She has never failed in kindest sympathy towards me,
and has borne with the utmost patience my frequent complaints of
ill-health and discomfort. I do not believe she has ever missed an
opportunity of doing a kind action to any one near her. I marvel at my
good fortune that she, so infinitely my superior in every single moral
quality, consented to be my wife. She has been my wise adviser and
cheerful comforter throughout life, which without her would have been
during a very long period a miserable one from ill-health. She has
earned the lo