Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Monday
My dear Old Man
We have just got your letter from Marseilles, & if your weather is any thing like ours you will have a good passage— It is beautifully calm & hot & has been capital for the hay ever since you went. The school feast was quite successful & not hot & very little trouble (to me at least) & yesterday was perfect for the working men & women who were 40 in number.
They assembled on the lawn about 12— & after loitering a little went off with their dinners to the ash tree where the young men (F. Ho. Gurney & Crawley (who were at Frank’s) carried a supply of hay for sofas. They brought their own dinner & we furnished drinks & strawberries. Then we had them off our minds till about 5—when they had tea on the lawn furnished by us— The great Mr Weaver & John Lewis volunteered to come & help & worked like horses— They all seemed to enjoy themselves—especially 2 lovers who spent hours in the sand walk & missed their tea, & the young lady had a snub from her father (Mr Allen).
Then we had a good concert of part music which really sounded beautiful out of Wm’s bed-room window. Poor Old W. however heard only a song or 2 & retired up to Horace’s room. Then we furnished all the ladies with some beautiful roses, & all the party w. Claret cup & lemonade & they mostly walked, except a brake full of women & one poor man who displaced his kneecap. He had done it before & did not m. mind, after Frank had bound it up.
Gurney was much struck w. the singing & thought it very perfect. William was much done up & unluckily none of us despotically ordered im off to At Eliz. & he rather dreaded the journey to see Andrew, & so we have settled what you have always wished for, viz. having Dr C. here. F. has written a letter which I think will make him take his fee (tho’ he has never paid in the Litches cheque). I feel it such a comfort that F & I will have leisurely talks w. Dr C. Wm. was a good deal annoyed at making such a fuss, but I think he is relieved to have it off his mind—
You shall hear as soon as ever we see Andrew, w. may not be fore some days.
Goodbye my dearest old man we miss you sadly. | E.D—
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-1054,” in Ɛpsilon: The Darwin Family Letters Collection accessed on