WCP6014

[1]

Cotswold

Parkestone,

8th Nov[ember]. 1913

Dear M^rs. Wallace,

It was only this morning on opening my paper that I learned that Dr. Wallace was dead, & at the risk of trespassing upon sacred ground, I wish to tell you how much I sympathize with you in your great loss. Of course it was to come, but where the mind remained so active it never seemed at hand, & it is only at intervals that I can realize the extent of the change. What it means to you I can only guess.

Long before I met Dr. Wallace I knew him through his lectures & his books, so that my gratitude to him as a teacher dates from long ago. And that gratitude, which I have always meant to express & have not done, is the feeling that is uppermost when I think of him. He was a great teacher. I believe the combination [2] of wide knowledge & enthusiasm which he possessed is rare even in great men. Think of the traveller [sic] who had seen so many wonders in the tropics, eagerly looking forward to the opening of another unknown flower. And the flowers that have not yet opened. Is he still, as he believed, about us, & will he see at last with joy these aliens bloom? Who can tell?

I hope you will not think I intrude by writing, which is very far from my purpose. With so many friends & so many expressions of regret you may well wish them fewer, but I do not think of all who write & of all who feel for you, that one knows a more genuine sorrow than

Yours sincerely | Hamilton Blanchard [signature]