Logan Republican | 1903-05-19 | Page 2 | Charles Darwin as a Boy

CHARLES DARWIN A8 A BOY. Great Naturalist Confesses to Habitual Habit-ual Untruthfulness. In a recently published collection of letters by Charles Darwin appears tho following frank confession as to tho great naturalist's untruthfulness when a boy: "I was In thoso days a very great story-teller for tho puro purpose of exciting attention and surprise, sur-prise, I scarcely ever went out walking walk-ing without saying that I had Been a pheasant or somo strange bird (natural history tasto); these lies, when not detected, I presume, exclU od my attention, as I recollect them vividly, not connected with shame, though some I do, but as something which by having produced a great effoct on my mind gave pleasure like a tragedy. I recollect when I was at Mr. Case's Bchool In Shrewsbury inventing in-venting a whole fabric to buow how fond I was of speaking the truth! My invention Ib still so vivid In my mind that I could almost fancy it was true did not memory of former shamo tell mo it was false."