In the spring of 1875 he sends this lively picture of himself from Dodington, near Whitchurch, in Shropshire, where he had been working, staying with friends, in the full enjoyment of country life.
Writing on the 27th of April, 1875, he says:—
"I feel I owe somebody an apology for staying in the country so long, but don't quite see to whom it is due, so I shall stay two or three days longer, and then I shall indeed hang my harp on a willow tree. It is difficult to screw up the proper amount of courage for leaving the lambkins, the piglets, the foals, the goslings, the calves, and the puppies. We want rain, and then things will grow with exceeding speed; as it is, the earth is dry and the buds are slow to display their hidden beauties. A little of 'something to drink' will cheer them, and then, like some human beings, they will look pleasant and cheerful and 'come out.'"
Next, from a letter to an intimate friend, dated 5th March, 1875, on being asked to become a trustee:—
"The event is of a pleasing nature because it shows that somebody still believes in the continuance of that uprightness of principle, rectitude of conduct, and general respectability of mind and heart which for so many years endeared me to the nobility, clergy, gentry, gasmen, and fowl stealers of W——."
Life in the country with Caldecott was "worth living," and he chafed much at this period if he had to be with his "nose to the grindstone," as he expressed it, in Bloomsbury. Whilst in the country his letters to town were full of sketches, but in letters from London he hardly ever pictured life out of doors.
