CHAP. X.] TESTIMONIAL FKOM WORKING MEN. 121 



Here we are, and asked for a letter from you, but, alas ! no letter to 

 hand. Are you weary ? are you dreary ? or are you too cheery to write ? 



Perhaps little Georgey attracts all attention, and poor is 



forgotten. 



The setting sun fades, the rising grows higher and brighter ; so grand- 

 papa grows less, grandson bigger. You may be able to telegraph to me 

 till Saturday if you think of coming to us in Switzerland. [There was some 

 talk of myself and my husband joining them abroad, but it fell through.] 



I am writing to you with a thunderstorm raging over the Apennines. 

 It is warmer here than before. 



The king opens the Horticultural Exhibition to-morrow at half -past 

 eleven. We are all well. As you have seen Florence, I need not describe 

 it. There is an absence of swifts which is remarkable, as there was a 

 great number which used to skim by the windows when we were last here. 



In January 1874, the Conservative candidate for Kochester 

 having withdrawn at the last moment, Alfred Smee suddenly 

 stepped into a train and found himself at Rochester the day only 

 before the nomination, causing a great fright among the Radicals, 

 who thought they were going this time to walk the course. Not- 

 withstanding such a short notice, he telegraphed to Rochester to 

 say he would address them that same evening. The room was 

 crowded so as to cause great inconvenience, even the road outside 

 the house being blocked up ; and what was most peculiar was, 

 that the meeting was almost entirely of working men. He polled 

 835 votes,* and for his pluck in coming forward like this at 

 the last hour he received from the working men of Rochester a 

 very handsome testimonial, consisting of a silver claret jug, cups 

 and salver, accompanied by an illuminated scroll, containing the 

 signatures of 600 subscribers. On the claret jug is the following 

 inscription: 



" Presented to Alfred Smee, F.R.S., by the Conservative freemen and 

 electors of the city of Rochester, in recognition of his spirited conduct 

 in contesting the city on constitutional principles, April 2nd, 1874." 



The presentation was made the occasion of a very imposing 

 demonstration. One of the papers recording the speeches says, 



Mr. Smee and some London friends arrived at the South Eastern 

 Railway Station at Strood about 7 o'clock in the evening, and was met 

 by a large and enthusiastic gathering of his followers, accompanied by a 

 strong band and by bearers carrying flags and banners. A carriage and 

 pair had been provided f pr Mr. Smee, and several of his followers were also 

 in carriages. Immediately on Mr. Smee's arrival a procession was formed, 

 headed by the band, and the principal streets of the borough were paraded 



* Mr. Smee polled upwards of 200 more votes than were ever before 

 recorded for a Conservative candidate for Rochester. 



