From Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield [6 May 1878]

Dearest H—

Business first—

Bessy says she should be much obliged if you wd ask the dress maker to have her gown ready to be tried on Monday mg—when she will come that way, & on to Down in p.m—

We had such a lovely day yesterday & loitered about— Sara & I went to Church which is perfectly easy & harmless, but church always entirely knocks her up—& then W^m & Bessy met us close to the Church & she was tempted by the beauty of it to walk all the way home & was utterly done for— We came home thro' the park & it was lovely in the afternoon light. I saw that Miss Beadon (in whose pew we sat) was q. as weary of the curate's sermon as we were & was stifling yawns all the time. Yesterday after dinner Sara had a struggle w. Jackson to let dessert be done in a more irregular fashion; but he had the matter in his own power & did not heed her & afterwards Theo told us that Sara had said she sh^d not have dessert, we were better without it till Leo. came when she sh^d have it, to which Theo. had answered she hoped Leo w^d come very soon—

W^m has adopted a charming puppy (a thoro' mongrel)— It had followed Dick & he very deeply observed that he thought he sh^d drown it which produced q. the desired effect. If we had not Polly I shd certainly adopt it. He is v. small w. a pretty tan face & eyebrows— When you order my bonnet about which is no hurry, remember if it is grey, it must be the dull grey not the light lilac. Theo—wd go^.^ the mg walk w. W^m & Ho—yesterday whereby Bessy had to turn back w. her before they came to the pretty part & she was done up before she started; however Leo. will go w. B. again—

I think we are too early in the affair for R's argument about war to be valid. If the peace party c^d force the assembling of the Congress, they wd be q. justified on his view of the case—& the Govt wd be more likely to be willing to make concessions if they felt there was a very strong minority against them. Ask him to read last week's Economist if it falls in his way. It is by way of being q. neutral. Horace was utterly done up on Sat. w. all his own work & then 1$\frac{1}{2}$ talk w. F. Galton about his machine but he is all right now— yours my dear. Bessy is v. prosperous & enjoys the talk & laugh. I am r. afraid a house full is a little too m–-for Sara She is so very anxious that all sh^d go right. I hope R—goes on getting stronger & w. fever headaches

yours | E D