A SERIOUS ACCIDENT. 89 



in July to oblige a clerical friend in charge of one of the 

 Woolwich churches ; and, anxious 'to employ his time 

 to the last possible moment, he arranged to leave only 

 by the last train on the Saturday night. When the 

 night came, there was no moon ; the sky was covered 

 with dense clouds ; and, as it was summer-time, the 

 wisdom of the Local Board had decreed that the street 

 lamps should not be lighted. Also, as was usually the 

 case when he had a train to catch, my father remembered 

 some important omission at the last moment, and was 

 consequently very late in starting. Now, while the 

 greater part of the village of Belvedere stands on high 

 ground, the railway station, which is some three- 

 quarters of a mile distant, naturally lies down below, 

 in the valley of the Thames ; and the descent is by a 

 long and steep hill, closely overhung with trees upon 

 either side. Anxious if possible to catch his train, and 

 so to save himself from a four-mile walk at midnight, 

 my father ran down the hill, carrying a carpet-bag 

 and a walking-stick in his right hand. Just in the 

 darkest and steepest part of the road a cartload of 

 manure had been emptied for the supply of a neighbour- 

 ing garden, and carelessly left upon the pathway. And 

 over this, which he was quite unable to see in the dark- 

 ness, my father fell heavily, alighting with all his 

 weight upon his unfortunate right hand, the fingers of 

 which were still holding the walking-stick and the 

 carpet-bag. The consequence was that the second, 

 third, and fourth fingers were fractured, one of them in 

 two places ; two were dislocated as well ; and nearly all 



