Churchill, Randolph Henry Spencer, Lord, 1849-1895
nerves, she would have been frightened; but all she did was to
smile blandly. At last the train moved off while the band played
‘God save the Queen.’ I am sure I wonder there were no accidents,
we were all so close to the carriage. There I was, left in the
station, ‘hatless.’ I met Lord Churchill there, who told me Lady
Churchill was in waiting. I was introduced to lots of soldiers by
one of the masters who caught me. And then I began to search for my
hat; but it was in vain, for I never saw it again. I was told to
get another one, for I had no other to wear. At last I got home,
and in the evening we went out again to see the illumination. There
was not much to see. I think I have given you a full account of the
wedding and the reception.
Believe me ever to remain
Your affectionate son,
RANDOLPH CHURCHILL.
P.S.--My holidays begin on the 27th of March.
The letters which Lord Randolph received from his father during these
Eton years were affectionate and pleasant, and were evidently intended
to exert a considerable influence upon his education. Besides ordinary
family news and the accounts of sport, of partridges and pheasants, of
the health of dogs and ponies, of the exertions of the Heythrop
hounds--always industrious, and sometimes successful--there was
generally allusion to some more serious or public event, a political
opinion, an account of an election at Woodstock, or a few sentences
about Mr. Disraeli. Often the Duke would take pains to impart a lesson
in conduct under the guise of information. ‘Your aunt,’ wrote this
devout, yet not intolerant, man, ‘who is with us now is most unhappy;
for I fear she is a Roman Catholic at heart, and does not like to say
so. If this be true, it would be much better for her to declare her
mind; and then, of course, however we might be grieved, the matter
would never be alluded to in conversation.’ He encouraged his son always
to confide in him; nothing mattered so much as what could not be told;
and when it was necessary, as it often was, to reprove some schoolboy
misdemeanour--pert speeches to masters, an overbearing manner, the
unwarranted fagging of small companions, or the breaking of other
people’s windows--he never founded his rebukes upon authority; but
always upon reason, arguing the matter quite fairly with his son,
pointing out to him the consequences of his actions, and appealing to
his good sense, his self-respect, and the love and honour in which he
held his parents. The care and patience thus displayed were not
unrepaid, and both Lord Randolph and his elder brother, throughout lives
strongly marked by an attitude of challenge towards men and things,
preserved at all times an old-world reverence for their father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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