George Wood

“ George Wood glanced down almost unconsciously at the clothes he wore, with the habit of a man who is very poor and is not always sure of being presentable at a moment’s notice. His preoccupation did not escape cousin Totty, whose keen instinct penetrated his thoughts and found there an additional incentive to the execution of her beneficent intentions. ”

“ George B. Wood may be named as one who, in the main features, and, indeed, in almost every particular of his career, has left an example worthy of admiration and emulation. It will be acknowledged by the least enthusiastic of his friends and associates, that he was one of the most useful men of his generation.
He was born at Greenwich, in New Jersey, in the year 1797. His own memoranda of his ancestry are not devoid of historical interest in connection with the early settlement of this city, as well as that of our neighboring State. ”

“ Wood kept in his possession a deed, signed by the agent of William Penn, who acted as executor of John Fenwick, conveying a lot of ground forming a part of his Greenwich farm.
In each generation, the heads of this family in New Jersey have been men of consideration and local distinction. Richard Wood, the father of the subject of this memoir, was a man of superior mind and strong character, much respected by all who knew him. He was described by an acquaintance, speaking of him to Dr. Wood, as "a prince of a man." He married twice. ”

“ And yet he assumed that it would be absolutely impossible for him to abandon his drudgery in order to devote himself solely to the series of essays on which he had pinned his hopes of success. His serious work, as he called it, made little progress when interrupted at every step by the necessity for writing twaddle about trash.
It may be objected that George Wood should not have written twaddle, but should have employed his best 8energies in the improvement of second class literature by systematically telling the truth about it. Unfortunately the answer to such a stricture is not far to seek. ”

“ John George Wood, one of the most popular and instructive of natural history writers, died March 3d, while on a visit to Coventry, England. He was born in London, the son of a surgeon, in 1827, and was graduated from Merton College, Oxford, in 1848. lie served for two years in the Anatomical Museum at Christ Church, Oxford ”

“ It is said by Wood to have been held 'the most exact piece of controversy since the Reformation.' It is a treatise replete with abstruse learning, and written with excessive vigour. Its defect is that it is too full of controversial acerbity. Crakanthorpe was, says Wood, 'a great canonist, and so familiar and exact in the fathers, councils, and schoolmen, that none in his time scarce went before him. None have written with greater diligence, I cannot say with a meeker mind, as some have reported that he was as foul-mouthed against the papists, particularly M. Ant. ”

“ Meta, in her black frock, dressed as she had been in the day, is lying on the bed by her mother’s side: one weak arm is thrown round the child, as if she could not part with her greatest earthly treasure; and George is sitting in a chair on the other side the bed, his elbow on the pillow, his face turned to catch every shade that may appear on that fading one, so soon to be lost to him for ever. ”

“ According to Wood, he was a distinguished soldier, and also an eminent scholar, being especially skilled in mathematics. In 1613 he was keeper of the stores in Sandown Castle, Deal, Kent. He was knighted in August 1620. In 1627 he was appointed lieutenant of the ordnance in the place of his brother Sir William, who was killed in the Isle of Rhé. ”

“ Open-handed benevolence was a marked trait of Dr. Wood's character. Privately, and to public institutions, he gave largely, although always with careful discrimination and judgment. The University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Philadelphia College of Physicians, the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences were the main recipients of his liberal donations during his lifetime ”

“ On the death of his father, on 6 Oct. 1584, he returned to England, and in 1585 took up his residence in Cheshire. On 23 Oct. 1597 he was created rouge dragon pursuivant on the recommendation of Sir George Carey, knight marshal. He never attained higher office, owing partly to a lack of amiability and a sharp tongue. He died on 10 Oct. 1618, and was buried, as Wood thinks, in the churchyard of St. Benedict, near Paul's Wharf. About 1580 he married Veronica, daughter of Francis Altensteig of Nürnberg. ”

“ In London Lloyd George, the British Premier, knew Wood as the administrator of Cuba and the Philippines. He knew also of Wood's experience with, and knowledge of European armies. He was anxious for Wood to be in Europe. He laid great emphasis upon the shortage of American air service which made it difficult for American troops to work as a separate unit without English or French coöperation. ”

“ The boy, George, she sent to a good school at Stilborough; he had to walk to and fro night and morning: Jane went to the Grey Sisters. George took to the sea; in spite of all his aunt could say or do. Perhaps the liking for it was innate, and he was always about in boats and on the beach when at Greylands. He at length put himself on board Tom Dance's boat, and said he would be a fisherman, and nothing else. In vain Miss Hallet pointed out to him that he was superior to anything of the kind, and ought to look out for a higher calling in life. George would not listen. ”

“ The narrow bed and one chair occupied almost all the space, leaving very little for George and Ann Canham as they stood. George, coming in from the fresh air, felt half-stifled with the closeness of the room: and this must be dangerous for the invalid. It is a mercy that these inconveniences are soothed to those who have to endure them—as most inconveniences and trials are in life. To an outsider they appear unbearable; but to the sufferers they are tempered. George Ryle felt as if a day in that atmosphere would half kill him; but Rupert, lying there always, was sensible of no discomfort. ”

“ With him, nervousness took a different form, manifesting 5itself in an abnormal anxiety concerning George’s welfare, combined with an unfortunate disposition to find fault. Of late, indeed, he had not been able to accuse the young man of idleness, since he was evidently working to the utmost of his strength, though his occupations brought him but little return. It seemed a pity to Jonah Wood that so much good time and so much young energy should be wasted over pen, ink, paper, and books which left no record of a daily substantial gain. ”

“ Wood, and especially had accident brought us into close intimacy or association, it is not improbable that he might have preferred persons of his own blood as the heirs of his fortune, to one whose only claim upon him was the name of Wood, and a few flattering attentions."
Two sons of James Wood of Philadelphia, above mentioned, early in the 18th century left this city to settle in Southern New Jersey; probably under the auspices of Thomas Chalkley, a prominent member and preacher of the Society of Friends ”

“ He proceeded in divinity and became conspicuous among the puritanical party for his great powers as a disputant and a preacher. Wood describes him as a 'zealot among them,' and as having formed a coterie in his college of men of like opinions with himself, who were all the devoted disciples of Dr. Reynolds. That Crakanthorpe had acquired a very considerable reputation for learning is probable from the fact that he was selected to accompany Lord Evers as his chaplain, when, at the commencement of the reign of James I, he was sent as ambassador extraordinary to the emperor of Germany. ”

“ Jonah Wood was far too conscientious a man not to sacrifice whatever he could for the completion of his son’s education. For several years he deprived himself of every luxury, in order that George might have the assistance he so greatly needed while making his studies at Columbia College in his native city. ”

“ Be easy: she will never replace Maria.”
In the porch, as George went out, he met Lord Averil hastening in. Lord Averil would have put his arm within George’s to walk with him through the grounds, but George drew back.
“No, not to-night: let me go alone. I am not fit for companionship. Good-night. Good-bye,” he added, his voice hoarse. “I thought to say a word of gratitude to you, for the past, for the present, but I cannot. If I live——”
“Don’t say ‘if,’ George: go away with a good heart, and take my best wishes with you. A new land and a new life! you may yet live down the past.” ”

“ Are the hours of the day so few that you must choose the gloom of a winter’s morning for commencing a journey?”
Thomas glanced at Sir George, as if to draw her attention to him. “My father’s anxiety will not allow him to wait, Lady Godolphin. I think it well that we should catch the first train.”
“I wash my hands of the journey altogether,” said Lady Godolphin. “If Sir George does not reach the other end of it alive, you will have the goodness to remember that I am not to blame. Far better that he were safely kept in his room wrapped up in his dressing-gown in front of a good fire.” ”

“ She scarcely dared look up when George entered. It was not his gaze that she dreaded to meet, but that of Mr. Hastings. To anger or displease her father was wormwood to Maria.
George cast a glance round the room. “Where’s Charlotte Pain?” he asked.
“She is gone,” was Maria’s answer. “Oh, George!” clasping her hands, and lifting to him her streaming eyes: “it was cruel of her to say what she did!”
“I could give it a better name than that, Maria. Never mind: we can afford to be generous to-day.”
“Is papa fully convinced that—that I do not deserve blame?” ”

“ Thomas suffered his right hand to fall upon George’s left, which rested on his knee. A more holy contact than that imparted by Mrs. Charlotte Pain’s.
“Don’t grieve, George. I am more than resigned. I think of it as a happy change. This world, taken at its best, is full of care: if we seem free from it one year, it only falls upon us more unsparingly the next. It is wisely ordered: were earth made too pleasant for us, we might be wishing that it could be permanently our home.” ”

“ Georgy was silent, and breathing, oh, so quickly; Mrs. Darling stood as one not at ease; Charlotte, apathetical as ever, save for the restless fire in the eyes, was looking down into the street between the crimson curtains of the somewhat high salon. Presently George spoke, looking at Rose.
"I want to go back to Alnwick. I want Benja."
"Oh, child!" exclaimed Rose, in a sort of awe. "Benja is not there."
"He's gone to heaven," continued George; "but I might see him, you know. Mamma sees him sometimes. She saw him the other night when she cried out: she squeezed hold of me so that she hurt me." ”

“ Wood, better than to most men, might be applied the poet's line: Justum et tenacem propositi virum.
If he had genius, it was a genius for work; a rare capacity for continued, indomitable, all-conquering labor. With this, he became an eminently successful man. As he wrote of Dr. Chapman, [8] "His career throughout, from youth to manhood, from manhood to old age, has been in the highest degree prosperous and flattering ”

“ Maria hesitated. “That” was some tempting-looking breakfast-dish, very good, no doubt, for George, but very rich for Meta. George, however, drew it towards him, and cut her a little, claiming for his reward as many kisses as Meta’s impatience would accord him. Margery went off in a temper.
[252] “No wonder the child despises her bread and milk in the morning! If I had fed you upon those spiced things, Mr. George, when you were a child, I wonder whether you’d have grown into the strong man you are!”
“Into a stronger,” called out George. ”

“ George made no remark. To have explained how very different his ideas of a gentleman were from those of Farmer Apperley might have involved him in a long conversation. His silence was looked suspiciously upon by Mr. Chattaway.
"Where idle and roving notions are taken up, there's only one cure for them!" he remarked, in short, uncompromising tones. "And that is hard work." ”

“ Mr. West lay on the hearthrug near his chair, his head resting close to the fender. Rimmer raised his head, another servant took off his black neck-tie; for it was only on high days that the poor Vicar indulged in a white one. He gasped twice, struggled slightly, and then lay quietly in the butler’s arms.
“Oh, sir!” burst forth the man in a horror-stricken voice to his master, “this is surely death!”
It surely was. George West, who had gone there but just before in the height of health and strength, had breathed his last. ”

“ Several arrivals had been heard, and Maria felt sure that all the guests, or nearly all, must have arrived. “Why don’t you go to them, George?” she asked.
The hour for dinner struck as she spoke, and George left the room. He did not enter the drawing-room, but went down and spoke to the butler.
“Has Mr. Verrall not come yet?”
“No, sir. Every one else is here.”
George retraced his steps and entered the drawing-room. He was gay George again: handsome George; not a line of perplexity could be traced on his open brow, not a shade of care in his bright blue eye. ”

“ Let me recommend you to put by half your salary, George. It is a very handsome one, and you may do it if you will. Take a lesson from the past.”
“Yes,” replied George, with a twitch of conscience. “I wonder if the climate will try Maria?”
“I trust that the change will be good for her in all ways,” said Janet emphatically. “Depend upon it she will be only too thankful to turn her back on Prior’s Ash. She will not get strong as long as she stops in it, or so long as your prospects are uncertain, doing nothing, as you are now. I can’t make out, for my part, how you live.” ”