Period Piece - A Cambridge Childhood (The Cambridge Childhood of Darwin's Granddaughter)
Language: English
Pages: 283
ISBN: B000XA4N8C
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Darwin's granddaughter's childhood years.
never discover what was wrong with it. But though my sex-life was so sadly simple, there were things which shocked, nay, positively disgusted me. For instance, I once saw, through the banisters at Down, one of my Darwin uncles give a friendly, conjugal kiss to my aunt, his vdfe. I rushed away in absolute horror from this unprecedented orgy. It seemed to me simply sickening, revolting, that this uncle—such a nice, quiet, decent sort of man, should be Fond of his wdfe: fond enough of her to kiss
not allowing people to be comfortable at home! And the folly of people's not staying comfortably at home when they can!'—it might be Uncle Frank himself speaking. But it is obvious, too, that there is some strain of the Woodhouses of Hartfield in us, of Mr. Woodhouse in particular. There was a kind of sympathetic gloating in the Darwin voices, when they said, for instance, to one of us children: 'And have you got a had sore throat, my poor cat?' which filled me with horror and shame. It was
man. If the window had to be opened to air the room in cold weather, Aunt Etty covered him up Airing the room. Aunt Etty is keeping guard over Uncle Richard during this dangerous proceeding. She is holding a thermometer in her hand. entirely with a dust sheet for fear of draughts; and he sat there as patient as a statue, till he could be unveiled. Number 31 Kensington Square, where they lived, was full of Morris wallpapers, and Morris curtains, and blue china, and peacock Aunt Etty
spinach green together; or two shades of peacock blue. It was easy work, much easier than real knitting, and stupid fingers could do it. Grandmamma's fmgers were all twisted up with rheumatism; and Aunt Bessy's had always been very clumsy indeed. She could never fmd her way into her pocket to get out her handkerchief—though certainly it was not always easy to fmd a pocket hidden in the gathers at the back of your skirt; and she used to get into a regular fuss when she had to put her arms into the
afternoon in the Big Life Room, when the most blood-curdling screams of Murder! Murder! Help! Help! began to come up through the high windows. We could not see out at all on that side of the building. The cries went on and on, and at last another girl and I ran out, just as we were, in our pinafores, to find out if we could help anyone. We had to go an immense way round to reach the place, right across the wide courtyard of University College, and out of the gate; and then round two sides of its