"
Mr. Wicksteed was very much interested in the case, and called my
attention to it, that I might add the story to my repertory of
self-helping men. While at York I received a communication from
Miss Grace Ellis, the young lady in question, informing me of the
name of the astronomer--John Jones, Albert Street, Upper
Bangor--and intimating that he would be glad to see me any
evening after six. As railways have had the effect of bringing
places very close together in point of time--making of Britain,
as it were, one great town--and as the autumn was brilliant, and
the holiday season not at an end, I had no difficulty in
diverging from my journey, and taking Bangor on my way homeward.
Starting from York in the morning, and passing through Leeds,
Manchester, and Chester, I reached Bangor in the afternoon, and
had my first interview with Mr. Jones that very evening.
I found him, as Miss Grace Ellis had described, active, vigorous,
and intelligent; his stature short, his face well-formed, his
eyes keen and bright. I was first shown into his little parlour
downstairs, furnished with his books and some of his
instruments; I was then taken to his tiny room upstairs, where he
had his big reflecting telescope, by means of which he had seen,
through the chamber window, the snowcap of Mars. He is so fond
of philology that I found he had no fewer than twenty-six
dictionaries, all bought out of his own earnings.
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