On the “ever-glorious first of June” in the year 1867 Juliana Gatty was married to Alexander Ewing, A.P.D. After two years spent in New Brunswick she returned to England with her husband, who for eight years was stationed at Aldershot. Here she acquired her close familiarity with military habits and the high appreciation of soldierly virtues which have made her later books both pathetic and stimulating. Of fragile frame herself, she has immortalised the famous south country camp.
Not long after the final removal of Major Ewing from Aldershot the health of his wife began steadily to fail. She was compelled to remain in England when he had to serve in India, and she had to bear many crushed hopes during the last six years of her life. But her “lamp of zeal and high desire” continued to burn brightly.
In the early part of 1885 she was seized with an attack of blood-poisoning. After a short period of physical and mental darkness she said truly that she would be “more patient than before.” At her request her sisters made a calendar for the week with the text above, “In your patience possess ye your souls.” Each day the date was struck through with a pencil. For another week she had the text, “Be strong and of a good courage,” and later still, when nights of suffering were added to days of pain, “The day is Thine; the night also is Thine.” Her brave life was closed on May 13th, so far as her visible presence in this life is concerned; but who can fail to appreciate the words from the Newcomes, which are the last entry made in Mrs. Ewing’s commonplace book, “If we still love those we lose, can we altogether lose those we love?”
Whilst herself a devoted member of the Anglican Church, Mrs. Ewing was well able to appreciate the point of view of others; thus we get sympathetic pen portraits of devout Presbyterians, and her writings are free from sectarian suggestions. In the realm of philanthropy we owe much to both Mrs. Gatty and her daughter. Both bring us into close touch with nature and inculcate a tenderer sympathy with all created beings and objects. No one can read Mrs. Gatty’s Parables from Nature without gaining some spiritual insight and a fuller conception of God’s care and love.
F. W. Newland, M.A.
LETTERS FROM A LAWYER.
PART X.
The Temple.
My dear Dorothy,—You say that Aunt Anne is in a great state of mind because she has lost her copy of Uncle John’s will. She sent it to her solicitors to have their opinion on one of the clauses in the will, and they declare that the will was returned to her, and that it is not in their possession.
There is no need for Aunt Anne to distress herself, even if her copy of the will is lost; she can easily procure another copy by applying to Somerset House. If she only wishes to read over the will again with the opinion she has received from her lawyers, she had better go down to Somerset House, which is in the Strand, not very far from Wellington Street, on the right hand side going towards the City from Charing Cross, and there they will let her read the will on payment of, I think, a shilling, and they will supply her with a certified, or an ordinary, copy of the will on payment of so much per folio, the exact amount she can learn on inquiry.