DECLINING YEARS (1873-1893) 301 



pleasant reminiscence of his Oxford days in con- 

 nection with this taste when, in his eighty-first year, 

 he unexpectedly received the following letter from 

 an old college friend : 



" WISHFORD RECTORY, SALISBURY, 

 June 13, 1890. 



" MY DEAR MR. MORRIS, Tis sixty years since 

 I contracted a debt of gratitude to you, and I have 

 been all these years longing for an opportunity of 

 at least acknowledging it to you ; but seeing lately 

 your honoured name in some newspaper, writing 

 as usual in the cause of truth and humanity, I am 

 compelled to make an opportunity. I believe it 

 was in 1830 that you spared time to come day after 

 day from Worcester College to the bottom of High 

 Street to rig up a model of a schooner for me and 

 my brother, to our wonderful enjoyment for some 

 years, and again, in the next generation of boys, to 

 my son and his numerous cousins. 



"That venerable vessel still stands in my study, 

 at the top of book-shelves, with the remains of your 

 rigging still existing. It is of more interest to me 

 than Nelson's Victory. 



11 But I have also, in common with thousands, to 

 thank you for all you have said, written, and done 

 in behalf of our inferior fellow-creatures, for which 

 I know many of their superiors love you. 



" May you have many happy years even yet added 

 to your life. I am very gratefully yours, 



"EDWARD HILL." 



