From Emma Darwin to Horace Darwin [21 October 1872]

7 Oaks

Tuesday

My dear H.

I am very sorry u are baddish again. F. can only recommend care about sugar & starch & not many potatoes.

We go home on Sat. v. cross w. the weather, which has been wet for 8 days. F. has been v. languid but today the sight of some delicious pulpy worm castings cheered him up v. m. He is better however & I am sure it will do him good. Lenny has just turned up from his day with the sewage farm at Tunbridge Wells. He finds it all v. interesting & he goes off tomorrow mg again. The 3 boys were here on Sat. & rather groaned over the steady rain all Sunday. They managed to take 2 walks however. George continues to think that the Turkish baths do him good; but he looks so collapsed & thin that I can hardly believe he will continue it for any considerable time.

The Litches were here for 3 days & I like him quite when in a v. small party   Hen. was poorly all the time, she is better again she tells us & has accomplished Amy Crofton’s wedding presents. A brass salver (highly artistic from Bessy) & an amber necklace & Japan cabinet from Hen. & me.

It is very disheartening for you my dear old man to have so many drawbacks but I do fully hope you will get quite right.

You have got to look broader & better in every way— I hope you will be able to stick to the electricity lectures. It must be less tough than Mathematics. The verandah is rather getting up in the world. F. is getting to think he wd like it to take little turns in. (I forget whether the idea had taken root when you were here).

Yours my dear | E. D—

Please cite as “FL-1319,” in Ɛpsilon: The Darwin Family Letters Collection accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/darwin-family-letters/letters/FL-1319