WHEN I WAS YOUNG 15 



Next day I had a most charming letter from Gould, 

 saying that he had been much struck by my powers 

 of observation — rare in one so young — and hoped I 

 would call and discuss Natural History with him 

 whenever I liked. After this I went many times to 

 see him, and he always treated me as if I were an 

 equal in knowledge. 



Reginald Cholmondely was a peculiar man. He 

 used to have his fits of depression, and would not 

 speak a word for days, but I was so happy hunting 

 for birds and attending to the menagerie that it did 

 not affect me. At other times he would cram his 

 house with visitors, and had a taste for brilliant 

 and interesting people. On one occasion Samuel 

 Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family came and 

 stayed for a month, and we had great times. 



Mark Twain was one of the most charming men 

 who ever lived, and had a fascination for young 

 as well as older people. My sister Carrie (Lady 

 Stuart of Wortley) and I used to hang on to his arm, 

 and he would tell us funny stories about Western 

 days, as we strolled about the gardens, till we felt 

 we could never let him go. He was a brilliant con- 

 versationalist, and knew how to interest an audience 

 as few other men. With no hat on his shock head, 

 and a corn-cob pipe in his mouth, he would discourse 

 for hours on any subject, bringing into his narratives 

 that essence of kindly feeling and abundant humour 

 which characterised all his thoughts. In the even- 

 ing he would read to us chapters of The Tramp 

 Abroad, which he had just completed, and a happier 

 party than that at Condover in the autumn of 1879 

 was not to be found in England. 



My principal ally at Condover was the head 



