368 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



Todmorden man with long legs was riding a kicking 

 pony, and, losing his stirrups, the pony's hind foot 

 got caught in the stirrup iron. " Nay," said the man, 

 "an' thou be cooming oop o' thot soide, I mun get 

 down at t'uther." 



Here is another one : John o' Tom's at Chow Bent 

 lay dying. To him comes Betty, the widow of his 

 neighbour, to say a few last words. "Well, John, 

 and so thou'rt deein'?" " Ay, Betty, Oi'm deein'." 

 "Well, when thou gets oop theer, mebbe thou'lt see 

 our Tummas ; thou mun tell him we's gettin' along 

 pretty well. T'ould tit's dead and we's 'ad t'shandry 

 mended." Poor old John raised himself on his pillow 

 and in a peevish voice replied, " And doost thou think 

 as Oi sail 7 ave nowt better to do when Oi get oop 

 yonder, nor goin' cloompin' about seekin' after thoi 

 Tummas ? " 



The Gaskells' house in Plymouth Grove 'was unlike 

 any other home in Manchester, for there, during Mrs. 

 Gaskell's lifetime, one had the chance of meeting the 

 literary celebrities of the time and many other in- 

 teresting wayfarers, and after her lamented death I 

 was present at her burial in the old Knutsford chapel- 

 yard, so familiar to the readers of Cranford the house 

 kept up its peculiar interest through the attraction of 

 the daughters, who have always been dear friends of 

 ours. 



From 1868 to 1885 my father-in-law's houses in 

 London at Prince's Gardens and Queen's Gate, and 

 his country house of Camfield Place in Hertfordshire, 

 became our southern homes, and many are the pleasant 

 associations which these names recall. Not merely or 

 chiefly was this owing to meeting there such men as 

 Cobden and Bright, or Louis Mallet and Henry Faw- 

 cett, who were constant visitors, but from the charm of 



