The spring was spent in Italy. In May they came to London.
"May 29. Met Mr. William Speare.... He told me of his son's death, and of that of William Lloyd Garrison. Gallant old man, unique and enviable in reputation and character. Who, oh! who can take his place? 'Show us the Father.'"
The last weeks of the London visit were again too full for any adequate account of them to find its way into her letters or journals. She visited London once more in later years, but this was her last long stay. She never forgot the friends she made there, and it was one of the many day-dreams she enjoyed that she should return for another London season. Sometimes after reading the account of the gay doings chronicled in the London "World," which Edmund Yates sent her as long as he lived, she would cry out, "O! for a whiff of London!" or, "My dear, we must have another London season before I die!"
CHAPTER III
NEWPORT
1879-1882; aet. 60-63
A THOUGHT FOR WASHING DAY
The clothes-line is a Rosary
Of household help and care;
Each little saint the Mother loves
Is represented there.
And when across her garden plot
She walks, with thoughtful heed,
I should not wonder if she told
Each garment for a bead.
* * * * * *
A stranger passing, I salute
The Household in its wear,
And smile to think how near of kin
Are love and toil and prayer.
J. W. H.