LAST DAYS 307 



well as the cabmen and their horses, and as I have 

 no doubt but that every member of the North- 

 Eastern Railway Company sees the Yorkshire Herald, 

 I can only hope that something may be done ; and 

 surely the sooner the better, in face of the winter 

 we are having and may have." 



Subsequently to this he corresponded with private 

 individuals, and every letter he wrote and received 

 was scrupulously entered in his diary a practice 

 he had adopted for many years. 



The severest part of the winter seemed now over, 

 and it was hoped, as he had escaped thus far without 

 any serious attack, that a further length of days and 

 usefulness was in store for him ; but, to the great 

 sorrow of his many friends and relations, these hopes 

 failed of their fulfilment. 



Towards the end of January he caught a chill, 

 which took an unfavourable turn and developed 

 into an acute form of bronchitis. The stubborn- 

 ness of the malady completely prostrated him, and 

 he was compelled to take to the bed from which he 

 rose no more, though it seemed at one time as if 

 his natural powers might still prove superior to the 

 forces of the ailment. His medical attendant, Dr. 

 Jefferson of Market- Weighton, who had treated him 

 so successfully when, a few years previously, he was 

 well-nigh mastered by the attack of eczema, was at 

 this trying time unremitting in his attention ; while 

 his beloved daughter Laura continued, as she had 

 ever done, to watch over him with the tenderest 

 care and devotion. But though everything was 



