V] 



HERTFORD: MY HOME-LIFE 



69 



hands we worked this up with our fingers till it formed a 

 compact stiff mass. Before doing this, we begged a little 

 bright water-colour, carmine or Prussian blue, from our sisters, 

 and also, I think, a very small portion of gum. When all 

 was thoroughly incorporated so that the whole lump was quite 

 uniform in colour and texture, we divided it into balls about 

 the size of a large marble, and carefully pressed them on to the 

 seals, at the same time squeezing the bread up between our 

 fingers into a conical shape to form the upper part of the seal 

 serving as a handle and suspender. Each seal was then care- 

 fully put away to dry for some days, when it got sufficiently 

 hard to be safely removed. It was then carefully trimmed 

 round with a sharp pen-knife, and accurately shaped to 

 resemble the usual form of the gold or silver seals which 

 most persons carried on their watch-chains to seal their 

 letters. The seal itself would be perfectly reproduced with 

 the glossy surface of the original, and when still more hardened 

 by thorough drying, would make a beautiful impression in 

 sealing-wax. In this way we used to get quite a collection of 

 ornamental seals, which, if carefully preserved, would last for 

 years. 



Almost all the above amusements and occupations were 

 carried on in the stable and loft already described, during the 

 two or three years we lived there. After that my brother 

 John went to London, and was apprenticed to a builder to 

 learn carpentry and joinery. When left alone at home, my 

 younger brother being still too young for a playmate, I gave 

 up most of these occupations, and began to develop a taste for 

 reading. I still had one or two favourite companions with 

 whom I used to go for long walks in the country round, 

 amusing ourselves in gravel or chalk pits, jumping over 

 streams, and cutting fantastic walking-sticks out of the 

 woods ; but nothing afterwards seemed to make up for the 

 quiet hours spent with my brother in the delightful privacy of 

 the loft which we had all to ourselves. The nearest approach 

 to it was about a year later when, for some family reason 

 that I quite forget, I was left to board with Miss Davies at 



