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OCR Rendition - approximate
574 Life and Letters of Francis Calton The Ministry seem learning to blunder less, but have a difficulty in carrying out their party programme, etc., as stated at the Elections. I heard good story of, let us say, Lady A., a great lady who lives in Grosvenor Square. She told her friend, say Mrs B., "I have asked all the new Ministers to my reception in July." Mrs B. said, "What, all of theml Have you asked John Burns and his wife? Lady A. answered, "No, not them: they are impossible. Besides, I have never called there." Mrs B. said, "But you must ask them, or it will be a slight and they and many others of their party will be angry." So Lady A. went home and wrote, ``Dear Mrs Burns, I hope you and Mr Burns will give me the pleasure of your company at my reception on Pray excuse my not having called, but the distance is so great from Grosvenor Square to Battersea." The answer came "Dear Lady A., I fear that Mr Burns and I shall- be unable to avail ourselves of, your kind invitation, for I have studied the map, and find the distance from Battersea to Grosvenor Square to be just as great as that from Grosvenor Square to Battersea." Neat, wasn't it? Mrs B. told Lady Galton who told me. I am getting answers and suggestions to my typewritten circular about the Eugenics Certificates, which were sent to about half-adozen experts. We shall see the final results, probably in the first instance in a paper published somewhere. Best loves, ever affectionately, FRANCIS GALTON. 42, RUTLAND,GATE, S.W. June 24, 1906. DEAREST MILLY, July 12th or 13th, as you propose, will suit excellently; so come here at once on your arrival. Eva will stay two or three days to overlap you and to have-the pleasure of seeing you. What about Amy? The little dressing-room will be the only room available for her. It would be heartily at her service if she came with you. As the time approaches, you will tell me more particulars?-day and train, etc. - To continue business, you will, of course,' stay a full fortnight. Later on I should greatly like a week with you and I would arrange about Gifi in the way you describe, but I can't say more just now, as Eva's plans are not certain cannot be certain-just yet, and mine would be somewhat governed by hers. The plan in outline is that she should go with her artist friend, Mary Savile, to some picturesque place, yet to be decided on, in conformity with Miss Savile's portrait-painting arrangements, Eva writes to-day to fix more particularly, but cannot hear for some three days, I expect. One idea was to go to Polperro, which would be very convenient to her and to myself. But this must stand over for a few days. She is most obliged for your very kind invitation, but she wants a bit of artistic Bohemianism badly. Miss Savile, too, who is coming into high vogue with great people, wants the same. Lucky for Bob, not to have been blown up 1' So glad the Pyrenees have been. a climatic success, though not a social one. Hugh and Fred will, I trust, enjoy it all thoroughly. I have been in what is now for me a whirl of doings. There was a big dinner. at Trinity College given to us old fogeys, once undergraduates at Trinity. I was the oldest fogey but one, but it was very interesting meeting many scattered friends. Llewelyn Davies was one, who sat next to me. Lord Macnaghten (the Judge of Appeal) was one of the guests at the Lodge and talked to me very pleasantly about R.' Cameron Galton, who was his contemporary. They both won rowing prizes and were great friends. Macnaghten was a Senior Classic of his year. Then 'I had a good deal of talk with Sir Fowell Buxton, who told me he had a genealogy of the descendants of the Gurneys of Earlham. There are upwards of 1000 now living, but of these some 200 must be subtracted owing to cousin marriages, which include duplicate entries of the same name. He has sent me some figures and asked me to suggest how to work the thing to the best advantage. I' had some ideas and have written them outfully and sent them. There were many others of great interest to myself, but tedious to narrate. Then, one day, I went with George Butler and his boy, with Eva, into the country to hunt up family portraits of the boy's family, contained in an old house, whose representatives welcomed us warmly. In the evening at 11.15 I went to a big affair in the offices of the Daily Telegraph, to which the German Editors now visiting London were invited, and a lot of English to meet them.' We saw the set-up of the paper in all its details and the beginning of the printing of, it at .12.15. The scale of the whole thing is enormously costly. One sees that home industries, in producing things in wide demand, have no chance against-big machinery. There are eight big machines, all fed from duplicates cast from the same type; Each machine is fed from a roll of paper four miles in length and drops out Daily Telegraphs, ready folded and dried, faster than it is possible to countcertainly at least five in each second. It was a wonderful display. - Ever affectionately yours, FRANCIS GALTON.
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