Part 2 (1/2)
3. Mrs. Green.
4. Mr. Verdant Green.
5. Miss Helen Green.
6. Miss f.a.n.n.y Green.
7. Miss Mary Green.
[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 21]
CHAPTER III.
MR. VERDANT GREEN LEAVES THE HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS.
THE time till Easter pa.s.sed very quickly, for much had to be done in it. Verdant read up most desperately for his matriculation, a.s.sociating that initiatory examination with the most dismal visions of plucking, and other college tortures.
His mother was laying in for him a new stock of linen, sufficient in quant.i.ty to provide him for years of emigration; while his father was busying himself about the plate that it was requisite to take, buying it bran-new, and of the most solid silver, and having it splendidly engraved with the family crest, and the motto ”Semper virens.”
Infatuated Mr. Green! If you could have foreseen that those spoons and forks would have soon pa.s.sed, - by a mysterious system of loss which undergraduate powers can never fathom, - into the property of Mr. Robert Filcher, the excellent, though occasionally erratic, scout of your beloved son, and from thence have melted, not ”into thin air,” but into a residuum whose ma.s.s might be expressed by the equivalent of coins of a thin and golden description, - if you could but have foreseen this, then, infatuated but affectionate parent, you would have been content to have let your son and heir represent the ancestral wealth by mere electro-plate, albata, or any sham that would equally well have served his purpose!
As for Miss Virginia Verdant, and the other woman portion of the Green community, they fully occupied their time until the day of separation came, by elaborating articles of feminine workmans.h.i.+p, as ~souvenirs~, by which dear Verdant might, in the land of the strangers, recall visions of home. These were presented to him with all due state on the morning of the day previous to that on which he was to leave the home of his ancestors.
All the articles were useful as well as ornamental. There was a purse from Helen, which, besides being a triumph of art in the way of bead decoration, was also, it must be allowed, a very useful present, unless one happened to carry one's riches in a ~porte-monnaie~.
There was a pair of braces from Mary, worked with an ecclesiastical pattern of a severe character - very appropriate for academical wear, and extremely effective for all occasions when the coat had to be taken off in public. And there was a watch-pocket from f.a.n.n.y, to hang over Verdant's night-capped head, and serve as a depository for the golden mechanical turnip that had been handed down in the family, as a watch, for the last three generations. And
[22 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]
there was a pair of woollen comforters knit by Miss Virginia's own fair hands; and there were other woollen articles of domestic use, which were contributed by Mrs. Green for her son's personal comfort.
To these, Miss Virginia thoughtfully added an infallible recipe for the toothache, - an infliction to which she was a martyr, and for the general relief of which in others, she const.i.tuted herself a species of toothache missionary; for, as she said, ”You might, my dear Verdant, be seized with that painful disease, and not have me by your side to cure <vg022.jpg> it”: which it was very probable he would not, if college rules were strictly carried out at Brazenface.
All these articles were presented to Mr. Verdant Green with many speeches and great ceremony; while Mr. Green stood by, and smiled benignantly upon the scene, and his son beamed through his gla.s.ses (which his defective sight obliged him constantly to wear) with the most serene aspect.
It was altogether a great day of preparation, and one which it was well for the const.i.tution of the household did not happen very often; for the house was reduced to that summerset condition usually known in domestic parlance as ”upside down.” Mr. Verdant Green personally superintended the packing of his goods; a performance which was only effected by the united strength of the establishment. Butler, Footman, Coachman, Lady's-maid, Housemaid, and b.u.t.tons were all pressed into the service; and the coachman, being a man of
[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 23]
some weight, was found to be of great use in effecting a junction of the locks and hasps of over-filled book-boxes. It was astonis.h.i.+ng to see all the amount of literature that Mr. Verdant Green was about to convey to the seat of learning: there was enough to stock a small Bodleian. As the owner stood, with his hands behind him, placidly surveying the scene of preparation, a meditative spectator might have possibly compared him to the hero of the engraving ”Moses going to the fair,” that was then hanging just over his head; for no one could have set out for the great Oxford booth of this Vanity Fair with more simplicity and trusting confidence than Mr. Verdant Green.
When the trunks had at last been packed, they were then, by the thoughtful suggestion of Miss Virginia, provided each with a canvas covering, after the manner of the luggage of <vg023.jpg> females, and labelled with large direction-cards filled with the most ample particulars concerning their owner and his destination.
It had been decided that Mr. Verdant Green, instead of reaching Oxford by rail, should make his ~entree~ behind the four horses that drew the Birmingham and Oxford coach; - one of the few four-horse coaches that still ran for any distance*; and which, as the more pleasant means of conveyance, was generally patronized by Mr. Charles Larkyns in preference to the rail; for the coach pa.s.sed within three miles of the Manor Green, whereas the nearest railway was at a much greater distance, and could not be so conveniently reached. Mr.
Green had determined upon accompanying Verdant to Oxford, that he might have the satisfaction of seeing him safely landed there, and might also himself form an acquaintance with a city of which he had heard so much, and which would be doubly interesting to him now that his son was enrolled a member of its University. Their seats had been secured a fortnight previous; for the rector had told Mr. Green that so many men went up by the coach, that unless he made an early application,
--- * This well-known coach ceased to run between Birmingham and Oxford in the last week of August 1852, on the opening of the Birmingham and Oxford Railway.