John Maunsell Richardson's Father 



profited to a certain extent, especially Maunsell, who was 

 always a quick and more than ordinarily intelligent boy. 



For one thing, we learnt he was the soul of honour and 

 truthfulness. His chastisement of our elder brother, when he 

 must have been terribly ill himself and must have heartily 

 disliked the ordeal, told us this fact when we came to a reason- 

 ing age. He was, too, a great lover of animals, who in turn 

 adored him. He had a Black and Tan Old English Terrier, 

 Duke by name, and so obedient was the dog, that being 

 upstairs in the nursery, which was on the third floor, and the 

 window open, his master unthinkingly pointed in its direction, 

 Duke, thinking he was intended to jump out, and with no 

 thought but to obey, jumped accordingly, and was only rescued 

 just in time by his tail. This same old dog lives in my 

 memory as rather a sad instance of keeping old pets alive too 

 long. He lived to be twenty-one years old — a really authentic 

 case of a dog's longevity — but before he died even now I can 

 remember, with horror, his fits, his sad, sightless eyes, and the 

 various other ills that beset an animal that has outlived his 

 natural limits. Yet who can blame the wife who kept this' 

 living reminder of her dead husband, until from sheer old age 

 he dropped into his grave ? On both sides Maunsell inherited 

 an almost inordinate love of animals, which in his case showed 

 itself more especially in his intense love of horses. His mother 

 was simply a slave to any animal, it did not matter how in- 

 significant, and her love for them was returned in full measure. 



Once she had a pig as a pet, and I can see even now in 

 my mind's eye this little humble follower close at her heels, 

 his tail wagging in porcine ecstasy at being allowed to be near 

 her and follow her about. Our greyhounds once chased and 

 bit a kitten very badly, and their victim should have been 

 destroyed at once, so shockingly was it mauled. But no, for 



15 



