were made in a
furious snowstorm. The snow lay ankle-deep in Dublin, and froze hard at
Belfast. In Scotland it slanted before a perpetual east wind. In
Yorkshire, it derived novelty from thunder and lightning. Whirlwinds
everywhere I don't mention.

God bless you and yours. If I look like some weather-beaten pilot when
we meet, don't be surprised. Any mahogany-faced stranger who holds out
his hand to you will probably turn out, on inspection, to be the old
original Dick.

Ever, my dear Stanny, your faithful and affectionate.

P.S.--I wish you could have been with me (of course in a snowstorm) one
day on the pier at Tynemouth. There was a very heavy sea running, and a
perfect fleet of screw merchantmen were plunging in and out on the turn
of the tide at high-water. Suddenly there came a golden horizon, and a
most glorious rainbow burst out, arching one large ship, as if she were
sailing direct for heaven. I was so enchanted by the scene, that I
became oblivious of a few thousand tons of water coming on in an
enormous roller, and was knocked down and beaten by its spray when it
broke, and so completely wetted through and through, that the very
pockets in my pocket-book were full of sea.

[Sidenote: Mr. George Stanfield.]

OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND,"
_Sunday, May 19th, 1867._

ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER.

MY DEAR GEORGE,

When I came up to the house this afternoon and saw what had happened, I
had not the courage to ring, though I had thought I was fully prepared
by what I heard when I called yesterday. No one of your father's friends
can ever have loved him more dearly than I always did, or can have
better known the worth of his noble character.

It is idle to suppose that I can do anything for you; and yet I cannot
help saying that I am staying here for some days, and that if I could,
it would be a much greater relief to me than it could be a service to
you.

Your poor mother has been constantly in my thoughts since I saw the
quiet bravery with which she preserved her composure. The beauty of her
ministration sank into my heart when I saw him for the last time on
earth. May God be with her, and with you all, in your great loss.

Affectionately yours always.

[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.]

_Thursday, Ju