(( 



CHAPTER XXXII 



LIGHTENING HIS BURDENS (1899) 



(Age 65) 



An early entry in the diary for 1899 records the 

 taking of all the children to the pantomime — ^the 

 Forty Thieves at Drury Lane, " splendidly put on 

 the stage " — and towards the end of January 

 Harold," the eldest boy of the second marriage, 

 went to school, at Rottingdean." Sir John 

 affectionately notes the sorrow of himself and of 

 Lady Lubbock in parting with him, but from the 

 very first the school seems to have been a success. 

 The boy was happy there, his reports were good 

 and, for his age, he took a high place. His father 

 and mother went down to see him. Sir John 

 writes that Harold conducted him to the school 

 library and pointed out with pride to the father 

 that all the latter's books were " out " — boys were 

 reading them. He said they were always out and 

 were among the most popular. In this year both 

 the Pleasures and the Use of Life were translated 

 into Greek, Arabic, and Japanese. 



He was playing golf twice a week or so all 

 this spring, whether from High Elms or from St. 

 James's Square, but at intervals golf was stopped 



102 



