Part 3 (1/2)
Whilst living in Fredericton my sister formed many close friends.h.i.+ps.
It was here she first met Colonel and Mrs. Fox Strangways. In the society of Bishop Medley and his wife she had also great happiness, and with the former she and Major Ewing used to study Hebrew. The cathedral services were a never-failing source of comfort, and at these her husband frequently played the organ, especially on occasions when anthems, which he had written at the bishop's request, were sung.
To the volume of _Aunt Judy's Magazine_ for 1870 she gave ”Amelia and the Dwarfs,” and ”Christmas Crackers,” ”Benjy in Beastland,” and eight[14] ”Old-fas.h.i.+oned Fairy Tales.” ”Amelia” is one of her happiest combinations of real child life and genuine fairy lore. The dwarfs inspired Mr. Cruikshank[15] to one of his best water-colour sketches: who is the happy possessor thereof I do not know, but the woodcut ill.u.s.tration very inadequately represents the beauty and delicacy of the picture.
[Footnote 14: Letter, s.e.xagesima, 1869.]
[Footnote 15: Letters, August 3, 1880.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: IN THE DEAR OLD CAMP. NO. 1 HUT, X LINES, SOUTH CAMP.]
Whilst speaking of the stories in this volume of _Aunt Judy's Magazine_, I must stop to allude to one of the strongest features in Julie's character, namely, her love for animals. She threw over them, as over everything she touched, all the warm sympathy of her loving heart, and it always seemed to me as if this enabled her almost to get inside the minds of her pets, and know how to describe their feelings.[16]
[Footnote 16: October 20, 1868.]
Another Beast Friend whom Julie had in New Brunswick was the Bear of the 22nd Regiment, and she drew a sketch of him ”with one of his pet black dogs, as I saw them, 18th September, 1868, near the Officers'
Quarters, Fredericton, N.B. The Bear is at breakfast, and the dog occasionally licks his nose when it comes up out of the bucket.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: CAN HANG NO WEIGHT UPON MY HEART.]
The pink-nosed bull-dog in ”Amelia” bears a strong likeness to a well-beloved ”Hector,” whom she took charge of in Fredericton whilst his master had gone on leave to be married in England. Hector, too, was ”a snow-white bull-dog (who was certainly as well bred and as amiable as any living creature in the kingdom),” with a pink nose that ”became crimson with increased agitation.” He was absolutely gentle with human beings, but a hopeless adept at fighting with his own kind, and many of my sister's letters and note-books were adorned with sketches of Hector as he appeared swollen about the head, and subdued in spirits, after some desperate encounter; or, with cards spread out in front of him, playing, as she delighted to make him do, at ”having his fortune told.”[17] But, instead of the four Queens standing for four ladies of different degrees of complexion, they represented his four favourite dishes of--1. Welsh rabbit. 2. Blueberry pudding. 3.
Pork sausages. 4. Buckwheat pancakes and mola.s.ses; and ”the Fortune”
decided which of these dainties he was to have for supper.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BULLDOGUE's FORTUNE]
[Footnote 17: Letter, November 3, 1868.]
Shortly before the Ewings started from Fredericton they went into the barracks, whence a battalion of some regiment had departed two days before, and there discovered a large black retriever who had been left behind. It is needless to say that this deserted gentleman entirely overcame their feelings; he was at once adopted, named ”Trouve,” and brought home to England, where he spent a very happy life, chiefly in the South Camp, Aldershot, his one danger there being that he was such a favourite with the soldiers, they over-fed him terribly. Never did a more benevolent disposition exist, his broad forehead and kind eyes, set widely apart, did not belie him; there was a strong strain of Newfoundland in his breed, and a strong likeness to a bear in the way his feathered paws half crossed over each other in walking. Trouve appears as ”Nox” in ”Benjy,” and there is a glimpse of him in ”The Sweep,” who ended his days as a ”soldier's dog” in ”The Story of a Short Life.” Trouve did, in reality, end his days at Ecclesfield, where he is buried near ”Rough,” the broken-haired bull-terrier, who is the real hero in ”Benjy,” Amongst the various animal friends whom Julie had either of her own, or belonging to others, none was lovelier than the golden-haired collie ”Rufus,” who was at once the delight and distraction of the last year of her life at Taunton, by the tricks he taught himself of very gently extracting the pins from her hair, and letting it down at inconvenient moments; and of extracting, with equal gentleness from the earth, the labels that she had put to the various treasured flowers in her ”Little Garden,” and then tossing them in mid-air on the gra.s.s-plot.
A very amusing domestic story, called ”The Snap Dragons,” came out in the Christmas number of the _Monthly Packet_ for 1870.
”Timothy's Shoes” appeared in AUNT JUDY'S volume for 1871.
This was another story of the same type as ”Amelia,” and it was also ill.u.s.trated by Mr. Cruikshank. I think the Marsh Julie had in her mind's eye, with a ”long and steep bank,” is one near the ca.n.a.l at Aldershot, where she herself used to enjoy hunting for kingcups, bog-asphodel, sundew, and the like. The tale is a charming combination of humour and pathos, and the last clause, where ”the shoes go home,”
is enough to bring tears to the eyes of every one who loves the patter of childish feet.
The most important work that she did this year (1871) was ”A Flat-Iron for a Farthing,” which ran as a serial through the volume of _Aunt Judy's Magazine_. It was very beautifully ill.u.s.trated by Helen Paterson (now Mrs. Allingham), and the design where the ”little ladies,” in big beaver bonnets, are seated at a shop-counter buying flat-irons, was afterwards reproduced in water-colours by Mrs.
Allingham, and exhibited at the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours (1875), where it attracted Mr. Ruskin's attention.[18]
Eventually, a fine steel engraving was done from it by Mr. Stodart.[19]
It is interesting to know that the girl friend who sat as a model for ”Polly” to Mrs. Allingham is now herself a well-known artist, whose pictures are hung in the Royal Academy.
[Footnote 18: The drawing, with whatever temporary purpose executed, is for ever lovely; a thing which I believe Gainsborough would have given one of his own pictures for--old-fas.h.i.+oned as red-tipped daisies are, and more precious than rubies.--Ruskin, ”Notes on some of the Pictures at the Royal Academy.” 1875.]
[Footnote 19: Published by the Fine Art Society, Bond-street.]
The scene of the little girls in beaver bonnets was really taken from an incident of Julie's childhood, when she and her ”duplicate” (my eldest sister) being the nearest in age, size, and appearance of any of the family, used to be dressed exactly alike, and were inseparable companions: _their_ flat-irons, I think, were bought in Matlock.
Shadowy glimpses of this same ”duplicate” are also to be caught in Mrs. Overtheway's ”Fatima,” and Madam Liberality's ”Darling.” When ”A Flat-Iron” came out in its book form it was dedicated ”To my dear Father, and to his sister, my dear Aunt Mary, in memory of their good friend and nurse, E.B., obiit 3 March, 1872, aet. 83;” the loyal devotion and high integrity of Nurse Bundle having been somewhat drawn from the ”E.B.” alluded to. Such characters are not common, and they grow rarer year by year. We do well to hold them in everlasting remembrance.
PART II.