Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 10.djvu/621

There was an annual fair at Banff, and in 1845 Edward resolved to exhibit his collection. So he brushed up his specimens, cleaned his cases, of which he had about 300, and exhibited them, or rather had them placed on exhibition, at Trades Hall. He made a small charge for admission, and received quite a number of visitors. It took the inhabitants by surprise, and they began to understand him; his strange night-wanderings having been a matter of much wonderment and mystification to the people of the town. He got a little money and without much expense by showing his collection, and, being very anxious to turn himself in some way so as to get relief from the drudgery of the shop, and acquire time and means for more devotion to his favorite pursuits, he formed the perilous resolution of trying Aberdeen as a place of exhibition. This city was the old centre of northern intellect, cultivation, wealth, and business, with two universities, filled with professors and students, and a large, intelligent, and thrifty population. Edward sot his collection into six carrier's carts—there being no railroads—and started out with his wife and five children July 31, 1846, reaching Aberdeen on the evening of the following day. He took a shop, advertised, and scattered handbills. Terms of admission, "Ladies and gentlemen, 6d.; tradespeople, 3d.; children, half price." The Aberdeen Journal thus noticed the collection: "We have been particularly struck with the very natural attitudes in which the birds and beasts of prey are placed; some being represented as tearing their victims, others feeding their young, and some looking sideward or backward, with an expression of the eye which indicates the fear of interruption. The birds are very beautiful, and the entomological specimens will be found exceedingly interesting." Edward expected a rush, but he was disappointed. But very few persons called to see the collection, and these were chiefly stuffed-bird dealers, who wanted to sell him specimens, or knaves with counterfeit monstrosities to dispose of. Some ladies called, to consult him about sick lapdogs, diseased cats, and a broken legged pig. One gentleman wished him to come and cut off the front teeth of an old and favorite rabbit, as they had grown so long that he could not eat; but only very few came to see the collection, and of those who did come none could be made to believe that the specimens were all collected and prepared by a man who had to work all day to support his family. Professors of the university came and told him that the inhabitants of Aberdeen were not yet prepared for an exhibition of this kind, though the reader will observe that the incorporated town was seven hundred years old and contained sixty churches, while its university had been operating on the Aberdonian mind for two centuries and a half! The fact is that, notwithstanding all its "culture," Aberdeen was no more appreciative of a true lover of Nature than Tom Edward's teachers had been; and he went out of Aberdeen in much the same way that Begg pitched him out of his shop. He got in debt, became discouraged and