1888-1892] Leonard Elected at Lichfield 297 



so one day I said " Now I am going to give a penny to 

 everybody who talks low at luncheon time." ' Shall you 

 give one to aunt Etty ?" " Yes." " Shall you give one 

 to aunt Bessy ?" " Yes." " And to Father and Mother ?" 

 " Yes." It had a great effect and I doled out the pennies 

 all round. I only included the grown-ups the first day, but 

 Gwenny and Charley earned lOd. each before they went 



away. 



Yours, my dear Margaret, 



E. DARWIN. 



My mother was deeply interested in the General Election of 

 July, 1892, fought on the question of Home Rule. I have now 

 her map of England on which she coloured every seat as 

 it w^as lost or gained. Her son Leonard was standing for 

 Lichfield as a Liberal-Unionist. After the election was 

 over, she wrote: "I am so intensely interested in the 

 debates I must put myself on stoppages or I shall wear 

 out my eyes." 



Emma Darwin to her son Leonard. 



MY DEAR LEONARD, DOWN, July 19th [1892]. 



We got your blessed telegram at 2.45. Now we 

 must hope that there will be no dissolution. I had been 

 schooling myself not to mind much, but we all owned we 

 had kept a corner of hope at the back of our minds. Now 

 you will rest, poor souls. It would be delightful if you would 

 come here soon. You would be much more tired if you had 

 failed. I send you Henrietta's remarks about your speaking 

 as she so thoroughly appreciated it, and I should like you 

 to be more conceited. 



DOWN, Saturday, July 23rd [1892]. 



MY DEAR LEONARD AND BEE, 



I must tell you how your two delightful letters 

 warmed my heart. 



We shall have a happy meeting on Friday and I have 

 asked George and Frank to rush over for a day. They 

 will not have a brother elected to Parliament every day in 



