Many months passed after that night of nights. Dolly left my bed to embark upon the dress-making business that I prepared her for; enlightening her with a certain amount of business acumen and of course, sufficient capital to allow her to run the business without financial worry for some two years. Of course if this proved insufficient, I would gladly provide additional funds, for Dolly had been a superb companion --- but like a bird whose broken wing has healed, she was ready to be set free.
I was keeping more and more to myself, seldom leaving Number 7 Saville Row to walk or ride through the streets of London, much less travel further about. My housekeeper and manservant had both become bold enough to chastise me several times about it and feeling guilty, I permitted them to do so. But still I persisted in sitting in my library reading book after book after book, exploring a wide variety of subject matter, among them, William Harvey's "De Motu Cordis," explaining the miracle of the circulation of the blood; Galileo Galilei's "Dialogo," proving that the earth orbits around the sun and not vice versa; and of course, Isaac Newton's "Mathematical Principals of Natural Philosophy," propounding the law of gravitation. Through these and others, I became quite knowledgeable about the world and how it worked.
And so, I ventured out one Sunday afternoon to listen to a presentation to the Linnean Society that concerned a chap named Charles Darwin. I had been reading somewhat extensively on the resemblance or relationships between the several species, as for example, the lion and the tiger, and wondered why it was held that each species was created separately. Of course had I mentioned this aloud I would have been categorized as a pagan.
Thus the presentation served two purposes: One it had whetted my appetite for further knowledge on the subject and two, it was an opportunity to get out of the house after having confined myself to it as if a prisoner under sentence.
I shall attempt to explain what transpired both before, during and after the presentation at the Linnean Society as best I can and hope that I do not bore the reader to distraction in the process. By now the name Charles Darwin should mean something to the reader and going on that assumption I shall relate what was happening in July of 1958 and its aftermath. I should add that although I tried on several occasions, much to my regret, I never did meet Mr. Darwin face to face. It appears that Darwin was galvanized into publishing his views of "natural selection" as it were, after receiving a fateful letter from one Alfred Russel Wallace on June 18, 1858 which resulted in the presentation to The Linnean Society and eventual publication in November of 1859.
That publication, "On the Origin of Species" changed the general thinking of man about the world more than any other book --- at any rate since the time when Newton propounded the theory of gravitation.
A bit of background might be necessary here: In the summer of 1831 Darwin was invited to join HMS Beagle as a naturalist while she was on a tour of duty surveying the southern coasts of South America. When he went on board the Beagle, Darwin fully accepted the hypothesis of the separate creation of each individual species. But the visit to the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador changed his mind and that of most of the civilized world forever. There he discovered a number of special kinds of tortoises, lizards and birds that were not found anywhere else, and yet they all resembled in a general way corresponding species found on the mainland of America, and were not in the least like species found on similar volcanic islands off the coast of Africa. How could this be if each species was independently created?
It seemed to Darwin that at some time in the remote past, chance had brought the animals to the islands, and that they changed there forms while isolated there. In fact, he convinced himself an evolution of species had occurred, though as yet he had no idea how it had come about. On his return to England he set out to demonstrate that continuous small steps of change could be found in the evolution of any organ of any animal or plant. It was a gigantic task for a single contrary example, if indisputable, would kill the entire theory. (The two paragraphs above have been compiled from material found in the Preface to "On the Origin of the Species," written by Charles G. Darwin for Heritage Press, 1963)
When, in 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace sent in his essay on the same problem, it was Joseph Hooker who arranged with Charles Lyell that their friend should not be pre-empted, and that Darwin's and Wallace's papers be presented together to the Linnean Society." (Richard Drayton, 2000, Nature's Government: Science, Imperial Britain, and the 'Improvement' of the World, (New Haven: Yale University Press) page 179.
As it happened, neither Wallace nor Darwin was present at the meeting. Wallace was still in Malaysia and Charles Darwin was in the village of Down, where Emma and Charles Darwin's child (Charles Waring) had just died from scarlet fever. These joint papers were presented on their behalf by Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Joseph Hooker and actually read by the Secretary to the assembled society. Of this 1858 presentation Sir Gavin De Beer has written the following: "On 1 July 1858 Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace made the first public statement of their theory of evolution by natural selection before the Linnean Society of London, and their papers were published on 20 August of the same year. The eighteen pages which they covered were among the most pregnant ever printed, and deserve to rank with those of Isaac Newton, since they provide for the realm of living beings the first general principle capable of universal application." (Gavin De Beer, 1958, Evolution by Natural Selection: Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace (Cambridge University Press)
What is especially noteworthy about this presentation at which I found myself so thrilled to be attending was that it would ultimately become one of the most illuminating discoveries of our time. Yet I am compelled to point out that although we now view Darwin and his collective theories as pure genius, perhaps no more unsuccessful scientific meeting was ever held, for the President of the Society would ultimately report that "no particularly important papers had been read" that entire year! (Amabel Williams-Ellis, 1966, Darwin's Moon: A Biography of Alfred Russel Wallace (London and Glasgow: Blackie), pages 143-145.)
As is probably well-known, Darwin did not "defend" himself in public and when "Origin" became a best seller; (the first edition of 1250 copies sold out on the day of publication.) Furthermore, every edition of "Origin" published in Charles R. Darwin's lifetime is different! He re-wrote every-single-one!
As I left the meeting certain euphoria came over me and I hailed a cab, asking that he take me to Regents Park that I might walk amongst nature while pondering the amazing information I had just heard presented.
I had been strolling along the various paths afforded by Regent's Park which contains many fine avenues of trees, is much frequented, especially of a Sunday afternoon. I had just left the famous Flower Walk and was still savoring the fine floral displays of the season when I came upon another couple several yards in front of me. On closer inspection it appeared the female was but a young girl, and the male, a well-dressed adult of perhaps forty years of age. They were hugging and the girl's excitement was quite evident. I was careful to make not a sound and watched thinking how nice it was that a father should take time to escort his daughter on a pleasant walk in the park. When to my surprise, the girl turned, closed her eyes and presented her lips for a kiss.
I stood stock still, hardly breathing and watched the scene play out before my eyes. The girl was babbling about "how mature people get out and commune with nature," which was fine with me until she suddenly began to disrobe. She took off every stitch of clothing and placed each item carefully in a small satchel she had been carrying.
I fought to catch my breath, for her young beauty had certainly taken my breath away. This nymph was truly a Greek goddess. The male spent a minute or so protesting her sudden nudity, and paled when she sought to help him in removing his own garments. But she kept at it, and soon she was unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it from his shoulders. They she went after his trousers, releasing his belt, and allowing the trouser to fall to his feet.
He was looking around in fear of being caught in a most compromising position. I held my place, hopeful that the shrubbery I stood behind would hide me from his searching eyes. Evidently it did, and he went on disrobing until he was naked as a jaybird.
When I thought it safe to do so, I returned to my voyeurism, examining the girl's simply divine ass just as she gasped with admiration at the gentleman's prick, which had grown erect and bobbed about as he tried to figure how to extricate himself from this dilemma.
"I ain't never seen one like that!" She said with honest, yet lustful conviction.
I wanted to rush over to them and show her mine, for it was a bit larger than her gentleman's to be perfectly honest, but kept mum and watched with great trepidation.
"I seen me brothar's and me fathar's 'o course, but not like this one. Closest to this one would be a black stallion me fathar brought home from Ireland two, three year ago. Do yet mind if I touch 'er?"
He answered her in a voice edged with raw fear and desire. "Go on, if you like."
She reached down with both hands and did far more than touch it as she cradled it in the palms of her hands and then she kissed it, saying, "No one ever let me touch their before."
Gathering his senses somewhat, he led her into the thicker underbrush, perhaps some 50 or sixty fee away, and then she turned and reached down once more, taking his sturdy appendage into her left hand.
They tried a kiss, twas no father-daughter kiss to be sure as it evolved into a passionate French tonguing type kiss. To me it appeared the young nymph did not understand why the gentleman's tongue had darted out to lick the young thing's lips until she opened her mouth to invite his tongue inside.