Mamma received the
sacrament. The sermon was very tiresome. It was about the skins that
Adam and Eve wore. . . . I was very much interested in Chester, and
all the old things I saw there, especially the Cathedral. As we
walked round the cloisters you could almost fancy you saw the monks
pacing slowly round, and looking now and then on the beautiful dewy
green grass which is in the middle of the cloisters. On Monday my
dear godpapa [Mr. O'Sullivan] went to London. Mamma got up at
half past four and set on the table some chicken-pie, some oranges,
and what she thought to be stout, and some flowers which I had
gathered in the morning, and gave all these to him.
"Rose is sitting on papa's knee, and through her golden hair I can see
her little contented face. She has got down now, and is engaged in a
lively discussion with Julian about her name. Julian has been dancing
round with the heat, for he thought dancing round would keep him cool.
Rose is sitting in mamma's lap now, and she looks so jolly. Her very
rosy round face and her waving flowing hair make her look so pretty.
She is very sharp, and she has a great deal of fun in her. She has
learnt 'Hark, the lark,' 'The Cuckoo,' and 'Where the bee sucks, there
suck I.' She says them very prettily, and she has a sweet, simple way
of saying what she knows."
Thoughts of her own country recall the joys of Lenox:--
"I have been nutting a great many times in Berkshire. Papa and mamma,
Julian and I, all took large baskets and went into the woods, and
there we would stay sometimes all day, picking walnuts and chestnuts.
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