Down
Wed.
My dear William
We have had a very nice little visit from Hope & Effie. They were both absorbed in learning to knit little socks & their inconceivable folly kept us all in laughter Etty was schoolmistress & they kept her fully employed. Effie sang a good deal & is very much improved, but I can fancy that those who are very particular about a good scream (which I like) would find her voice too harsh. The girls & boys all walked out & Hen. was quite well & I believe dissipation is the best thing for her. Ellinor Carter came on Monday & was very tame & merry. Hen. is going to take singing lessons with [illeg] of Mrs Andrews who taught Mrs Nevile Lubbock so I suppose she is good.
I am laying in rounds of beef & brawn & bespeaking turkies & geese for Xmas & you had better see whether you can be here Xmas day as the Hensleighs will come the day after. Emily Thorley remained very poorly for a week but went home on Monday. It is most extraordinary but Horace has never been so well or cheerful since Miss L. returned. We are going to try her going on a visit to the Malthuses & if he is better & more stout hearted in her absence she must go poor soul as it will be so very bad for his going to school if he is not at his best. Lenny is not very well either. It is mesmerism about Miss L. for it is nothing in her manner or ways. It was very painful telling her about it & that She wd probably have to go sooner but she took it very nicely & quietly. The boys are coming Sat. A game of hockey stopped them last Sat. & Ernest will come & meet them. The sewer Dr is coming on Sat too & Papa is getting himself well up as to all our sewers & cess pools & he believes it will turn out that they are much better than the average. We are to give 10 guineas for this knowledge
We have been driven mad by the smoking of the new room chimney & after paying £2.10 for a new chimney pot somebody looks up the chimney & sees it full of rubbish.
How very unfortunate it was in these photograph days that little Maud had never been done. Mrs [Monir] must have a great talent. Goodbye my dear Wm. yours E. D.
We are much amused at Sir H. James Geology
Status: Draft transcription
This transcript was produced as a side-product of the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project and may not have been proofread to the DCP’s usual standards.
Please cite as “FL-0437,” in Ɛpsilon: The Darwin Family Letters Collection accessed on