CHAPTER XLIV 



MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS : 1886-1897 



THE current of events ran tranquilly during the fruitful 

 autumn of Hooker's long life. The successive letters which 

 follow serve to show the plain threads that were woven year 

 by year into the fabric of daily life. 



The year 1886 opens with a greeting to Hodgson: 



This reciprocates your affectionate good wishes and 

 would if possible bear interest, but that I know is not pos- 

 sible, for you are my most affectionate friend in the world, 

 and are ever in my thoughts. 



I go on laying out my grounds, chiefly with Rhodo- 

 dendrons and ornamental bushes and trees. I have no word 

 yet about my pension, which is awkward, as I must now 

 determine my style of living, which will depend upon it, and 

 I have still outhouses and other expensive items to meet. 



Next year the date of Hodgson's birthday (February 1) 

 was missed, but not the greeting : 



Again your birthday has passed without the greetings 

 from me that should have arrived on that very morning. 

 Pray pardon me it was not forgetfulness of you, for we 

 were talking of you at the very time. . . . Your birthday 

 is down in my Diary, but I do not look at it as often as I 

 should, and so my own children's birthdays are as often 

 overshot as not. 



Miss Lyell, to whom the next letter is addressed, was the 

 sister of Sir Charles, the geologist, and a lifelong friend of the 

 Hookers, as her parents had been of his. Sharing both families' 



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