Parkstone, Dorset
August 21st 1892
My dear Violet
There is not much news. We have found another nice excursion. Last Thursday I, Will,1 & Mr Burdekin went to Corfe, walked to Kingston, had breakfast, arranged for a waggonette to meet us at Kimmeridge at 3.30, & started to walk there. It was cloudy, but about 11 to 12 the sun came out & our hopes rose. We got to the edge of the hills looking down on Kimmeridge Bay with just a peek of Gad Cliff, about 12.15, & saw fog over the water. In about 10 minutes it had drifted up & [2] blotted out everything. We went on; it began to drizzle, then to rain & by the time we got to the village at 12.45 it was pouring. We asked shelter in a decent kind of farmhouse, & it never ceased raining till our trap came at 3.15! A clever little girl of 5 amused us some. There was a library of very good books — such as a Treatise on Infant Baptism in 3 large volumes, — & others of like character but I [1 word crossed out] luckily found an odd volume of the — "Ecclesiastical History of the Venerable Bede" — Latin & English, and I read out five or [3] six of the earlier chapters which were both instructive & amusing, as it gave the early history of Britain, Caesar’s invasion, the life of St. Alban, and all about Ireland & snakes etc. etc.
All the way home it rained harder & harder; Will & Burdekin had no umbrellas, of course; so when we reached Corfe they had to get a dry towel & rub themselves down — then tea, & then home. Moral. Never go excursions unless the Barometer & the wind are favourable!
Just before your letter came Ma had gone off to Malvern. No letters have come for you.
[4] "Nat.[ural] Science" & other papers I sent to Mrs Fisher, need not be returned. If she does not want them ask her to give them away, & thus "spread the light"!
I enclose the stamps.
Will dines, teas, or sups with the Burdekins about 6 times a week. He and Burdekin are going in for the tennis tournament next month. Give my kind regards to Mrs Fisher &
Believe me, | your affectionate Papa | Alfred R Wallace [signature]
P.S. The Ed[itor] of the "Nineteenth Century" sent me £5 for my two papers, "with best thanks"!!
A.R.W. [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP231.231)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP231,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP231