* * * * *

Dr. Wallace had already received four medals from various scientific societies, and at our suggestion he had a case made to hold them all, which is referred to in the following letter.  The two new medals mentioned were those of the Royal Geographical and Linnean Societies.  He attached very little importance to honours conferred upon himself, except in so far as they showed acceptance of “the truth,” as he called it.

* * * * *

TO MISS VIOLET WALLACE

Parkstone, Dorset.  April 3, 1892.

My dear Violet,—­ ...  I have got J.G.  Wood’s book on the horse.  It is very good; I think the best book he has written, as his heart was evidently in it....

A dreadful thing has happened!  Just as I have had my medal-case made, “regardless of expense,” they are going to give me another medal!  Hadn’t I better decline it, with thanks?  “No room for more medals"!!—­Your affectionate papa,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

P.S.—­A poor man came here last night (Saturday) with a basket of primrose roots—­had carried them eight miles, couldn’t sell one in Poole or Parkstone—­was 64 years old—­couldn’t get any work to do—­had no home, etc.  So, though I do not approve of digging up primrose roots as a trade, I gave him 1s. 6d. for them, pitying him as one of the countless victims of landlordism.—­A.R.W.

A poor man was sentenced to fourteen days’ hard labour last week for picking snowdrops in Charborough Park.  Shame!—­A.R.W., Pres.  L.N.  Society.

* * * * *

TO Miss VIOLET WALLACE

Parkstone, Dorset.  May 5, 1892.

My dear Violet,—­I have finished reading “Freeland.”  It is very good—­as good a story as “Looking Backward,” but not quite so pleasantly written—­rather heavy and Germanic in places.  The results are much the same as in “Looking Backward” but brought about in a different and very ingenious manner.  It may be called “Individualistic Socialism.”  I shall be up in London soon, I expect, to the first Meetings of the Examiners in the great science of “omnium gatherum."[44]—­Your affec. papa,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

While he lived at Parkstone our father built a small orchid house in which he cultivated a number of orchids for a few years, but the constant attention which they demanded, together with the heated atmosphere, were too much for him, and he was obliged to give them up.  He was never tired of admiring their varied forms and colours, or explaining to friends the wonderful apparatus by which many of them were fertilised.  The following letter shows his enthusiasm for orchids: 

TO Miss VIOLET WALLACE

Parkstone, Dorset.  November 25, 1894.