WCP281

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

January 18th. 1897

My dear Violet¹

I send you £1. to go on with till March. If not enough let me know.

I send you the three last "Centurys" — Afterwards you will have them from Macmillans I expect. In Nov^r then is a beautiful article on "Jeanne D’Arc" — by a French painter.

Fuzzy is flourishing.

Our only excitement here is a "great whale" at Boscombe! It was towed on shore by [2] the Coast Guard, & then sold by the Government. It was 62 feet long, supposed to have been killed by a steamer. A doctor bought it & intends to leave the skeleton hung up in Boscome Arcade. He gave £.25 for it, and there have been a dozen men ^{the last few days} cutting it up & getting out the bones. It was got 10 days ago, but the weather was so bad that we did not go till this morning when we found a big heap of [3] vertebrae & ribs, and the head fins &c. paddles, &c almost buried in sand as the tide washed over it at High water. Will² went with us at 9 am & then went on to Southampton by the 11.10. I have been reading Lloyd Morgan’s³ book on "Instinct"⁴ — a grand book — & have written a review⁵ of it for "Natural Science." They give me the book for the review! A letter on Saturday from grandpa⁶ informs us that he has, at last, got the bit of field at back of their garden. He pays £.100, but they build a [4] wall 8 feet high the whole length of the end, and he has both sides of the wall to plant trees or creepers on, & a roadway next the wall for his private use so that no graves can be made close to the wall! I think this is very good, and will double the value of his garden.

Mr. Flürscheim’s Christmas present to Ma⁷ was a beautiful rug which we have in the study & which is very comfortable!

Kind regards to Eleanor⁸ | Your affectionate Father | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Will⁹ thinks now they will sail to Boston from Liverpool to save the expense of going from N. York to Boston.