1 860-1869 J Frank and George 177 



fighting about the Origin in N. America even more than 

 here, as I see by the printed reports. 



My dear old fellow, 

 Your affect. Father, 



C. DARWIN. 



Emma Darwin to Lady Lydl. 



DOWN, BROMLEY, KENT, Aug. 28 [I860]. 



. . . We have sent Frank to school, and as yet he has 

 been quite happy there. George is in the first class, and a 

 person of some authority there, so he is a great protection. 

 But I think boys are better than they used to be, and he is 

 sure to be liked by the masters from his industry and zeal. 

 Charles is too much given to anxiety, as you know, and his 

 various experiments this summer have been a great bless- 

 ing to him, as he can always interest himself about them 

 At present he is treating Drosera just like a living creature, 

 and I suppose he hopes to end in proving it to be an animal. 

 I have also succeeded pretty well in teaching myself not to 

 give way to despondency but live from day to day. We 

 had the bad luck at Hartfieid to fall into the hands of a 

 desponding medical man, and it really was a great injury 

 to us. We had a visit from Sir Henry Holland, who cheered 

 us again, and I fully believe his view is the true one. He 

 has been so constantly kind, and taken so much trouble, that 

 we feel very grateful. . . . 



The entries in her little diary at this time almost all refer 

 to me. One is "worked and knit,' : and that means I 

 worked at a pink and white rug which she always used at 

 Down till she died. She rather characteristically got tired 

 of an imitation " Indian pine," which I had worked on the 

 white strips, and a year or two before her death unpicked 

 these, and then repented that her old rug, which she had 

 known for thirty-six years, did not look the same. 



In March, 1861, Mrs Huxley and her three little children 

 came to Down for a fortnight's rest. She was seriously 

 out of health, and unable to recover from her grief at the 

 recent loss of her eldest little boy. My mother hardly 



