1888-1892] Home Rule and Parnell 283 



and cruelty and misery he had to do with. I rememl 

 being so angry with the Government for not acting sooh 

 when such dreadful things were going on but there wore 

 some members of the Government who would not agn 

 and F. was within an ace of resigning, but went on with 

 such powers as he had. It is very good anti-Home Rule 

 reading and makes one think worse than ever of Parnell. 



Frank Wedgwood, my mother's eldest surviving brother, 

 died on October 1st, 1888. 



October 4, 1888. 



I think his was the happiest old age I ever knew. He 

 was entirely without the faults of old age and wiser and 

 gentler than when he was young. 



Nov. 6th, 1888. 



I had a v. comf. day yesterday, feeling brisk, with nice 

 books, and Ida coming to tea, with toasted tea-cake, which 

 she liked. We had a nice talk. Now I must go to my 

 Moral Ideal. 1 I like ah 1 about Plato and Socrates very 

 much. It is odd that the feeling of humanity is a modern 

 invention, at least no older than Christ, for I think humanity 

 in the Old T. was exclusively confined to their own country- 

 men. 



On January 29th, 1889, she dated her letter to me " My 

 golden wedding-day No, it is to-morrow." As a rule no 

 one made less of anniversaries or any sentimental associa- 

 tions than she did, and her buoyant spirit and the essential 

 reserve of her nature prevented our knowing how much she 

 dwelt on the past. 



THE GROVE, Feb. 1, If- 



The children came to tea and Has asked me whothor I 

 generally had bread and jam, I said, 'No, never but when 

 you come. Perhaps that is the reason why I invite you 

 that I may get a bit of bread and jam." He took it bher 

 seriously. . . . 



The Tom Poole 2 book is pleasant except that every 



1 By her niece, Julia Wedgwood. 



2 Thomas Poole and his Friends, by Mrs Henry Sandford. 



