[To his youngest daughter:—]
Hodeslea Eastbourne, January 8, 1893.
I wish you would write seriously to M—. She is not behaving well to Oliver. I have seen handsomer kittens, but few more lively, and energetically destructive. Just now he scratched away at something that M— says cost 13 shillings 6 pence a yard—and reduced more or less of it to combings.
M— therefore excludes him from the dining-room, and all those opportunities of higher education which he would naturally have in MY house.
I have argued that it is as immoral to place 13 shillings 6 pence a yard-nesses within reach of kittens as to hang bracelets and diamond rings in the front garden. But in vain. Oliver is banished—and the protector (not Oliver) is sat upon.
In truth and justice aid your Pa.
[This letter is embellished with fancy portraits of:—]
Oliver when most quiescent (tail up; ready for action).
O. as polisher (tearing at the table leg).
O. as plate basket investigator.
O. as gardener (destroying plants in a pot).
O. as stocking knitter (a wild tangle of cat and wool).
O. as political economist making good for trade at 13 shillings 6 pence
a yard (pulling at a hassock).
[The following to Sir John Evans refers to a piece of temporary forgetfulness.]
Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 19, 1893.