id hospitality and
good beds on the straw of the large stables at the beautiful country
seat of a friend at Treborth. Here the boat section who came around
the island were to meet us, anchoring their craft on the south side of
the Straits. Our second year the naval division did not turn up, and
some had qualms of conscience that evil might have overtaken them. Nor
did they arrive until we by land had conquered the summit, travelling
by Bethesda and the famous slate quarries, and returning for the
second evening at Treborth. We then found that they had been stranded
on the sands in Red Wharf Bay, so far from shore that they could
neither go forward nor back; had thus spent their first night in a
somewhat chilly manner in old bathing machines by the land wash, and
supped off the superfluous hard biscuit which they had been reserving
for the return voyage. They were none the worse, however, our genial
host making it up to them in an extra generous provision and a special
evening entertainment. One of my smartest boys (a Jew by nationality,
for we made no distinctions in election to our class), in recounting
his adventures to me next day, said: "My! Doctor, I did have some fun
kidding that waiter in the white choker. He took a liking to me so I
let him pal up. I told him my name was Lord Shaftesbury when I was
home, but I asked him not to let it out, and the old bloke promised he
wouldn't." The "old bloke" happened to be our host, who was always in
dress-clothes in the evening, the only time we were at his house.

These holidays were the best lessons of love I could show my boys. It
drew us very closely together; and to make the boys feel it less a
charitable affair, every one was encouraged to save up his railway
fare and as much more as possible. By special arrangement with the
railway and other friends, and by very simple living, the per caput
charges were so much reduced that many of the boys not only paid their
own expenses, but even helped their friends. The start was always
attended by a crowd of relatives, all helping with the baggage. The
father of one of my boys was a costermonger, and had a horse that he
had obtained very cheap because it had a disease of the legs. He
always kept it in the downstairs portion of his house, which it
entered by the front door. It was a great pleasure to him to come and
cart our things free to the station. The boys used to load his cart
at our house, and I remember one time that they