In everything it is the same, what ought to be straight is always
put crooked. This after twelve months' constant practice and constant
teaching! And not the slightest sign of improvement. I believe he never
will improve. Day after day I have to look over everything he does and
tell him of the same faults. Another with a similar incapacity would
drive me mad. He never, too, by any chance, puts anything away after
him. When done with, everything is thrown on the floor. Every other day
an hour is lost looking for knife, scissors, pliers, hammer, pins, or
something he has mislaid. Yet out of doors he does very well--he
collects insects well, and if I could get a neat, orderly person in the
house I would keep him almost entirely at out-of-door work and at
skinning, which he does also well, but cannot put into shape....--Your
affectionate brother,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
TO HIS MOTHER
_Sarawak. Christmas Day, 1855._
My dear Mother,--You will see I am spending a second Christmas Day with
the Rajah.... I have lived a month with the Dyaks and have been a
journey about sixty miles into the interior.
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