An old fisherman and a delightful character, Wright of Salisbury, was a great friend of Fawcett. Wright was an ardent politician and a pronounced Liberal; that he was a celebrated angler is proved by Fawcett’s remark, ‘Why, Wright, I was in Wales fishing and they knew you there, and when I was in Scotland I asked if they knew you, and they said, “Oh yes, quite well.”’ The two used to go fishing together, and Fawcett would make special request of his companion to tell him of every blind person they met. He never met any one afflicted with blindness without offering help. On one occasion, Wright has chronicled, he was greatly concerned after he had given a poor blind person alms, and asked whether Wright had noticed what coin he had given to the woman. When the fisherman said he thought that it was a ‘florin or half a crown,’ Fawcett exclaimed with a sigh of relief, ‘Oh, I am so glad; I was afraid I gave her a penny.’ His ear was wonderfully acute, and he would detect the tapping of a beggar’s stick on the sidewalk at a great distance, or in the midst of the roar of London traffic. The distinguished political economist, as soon as he heard this little progressive noise, would let all his well-assorted theories of economy and social justice fly to the winds and hail the approaching beggar merrily, stop and have a few cheery words with him, and before they parted gave him some pence. His secretary never knew him to overlook a beggar or to fail to give him money. It is the only instance that I can find in his life where he did not live up to his principles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAMBRIDGE AGAIN ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ ‘Be swift to hear; and let thy life be sincere; and with patience give answer.’ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER VIII THE PROBLEM OF THE POOR A Prime Object—Lincoln—Leslie Stephen—Daily Life at Cambridge—Deepening Interest in Social Questions. [Sidenote: Prime Object of his Career.]