Memories

The beautiful Duchess of Argyll with her daughters Lady Augusta and Lady Charlotte Campbell By Angelica Kauffman. MEMORIES BY C. F. GORDON CUMMING AUTHOR OF ‘WANDERINGS IN CHINA,’ ‘AT HOME IN FIJI,’ ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MCMIV All Rights reserved “ APOLOGIA. ” I have mentioned many pleasant things that have been mine by inheritance. But I have suffered much from one heritage of a very trying nature, namely, the total inability to recognise general acquaintances when meeting them unexpectedly; or even real friends, whom mentally I know very well indeed, but quite fail to identify when we are suddenly brought face to face. This grave social disability I inherit from my father, to whom the same failing was a life-long trial. Moreover, it is one for which, unfortunately, the sufferer does not always get sympathy from those whom she has failed to recognise. I mention this chiefly in the hope that it may meet the eye of some to whom I am told that I have thus occasionally most unwittingly given offence. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTORY 1 ALTYRE—DUNPHAIL—NUMEROUS KINSFOLK—CORNISH RELATIONS—GRANTS OF GRANT—EPISCOPAL CHURCH 3 THE ALTYRE GARDENS—HOME INTERESTS—OUR MOTHER’S DEATH—EARLY INFLUENCES—THE MORAY FLOODS 34 THE ALTYRE WOODS—BANKS OF THE FINDHORN—CULBYN SANDHILLS—COVESEA CAVES 52 GORDONSTOUN—A GLORIOUS PLAYGROUND—THE GREAT PICTURE—THE DUNGEONS—THE CHARTER-ROOM—OLD LETTERS—ECCLESIASTICAL CENSURES—SUCCESSIVE LAIRDS—WINDOW-TAX 72 MY ELDEST SISTER’S MARRIAGE—LIFE AT CRESSWELL—SCHOOLDAYS IN LONDON—FIRST SEA VOYAGES—ROUALEYN’S RETURN FROM SOUTH AFRICA 102 MY FIRST LONDON SEASON—MY FATHER’S ACCIDENT—BEGINNING OF THE CRIMEAN WAR—DEATH OF CAPTAIN CRESSWELL—DEATH OF MY FATHER—WE LEAVE ALTYRE 122 LIFE IN NORTHUMBERLAND—MY SISTER ELEANORA’S WEDDING—ALNWICK CASTLE IN 1855 AND 1892—SERIOUS ILLNESS—DEATH OF OSWIN AND SEYMOUR CRESSWELL 140 AT HOME ON SPEYSIDE—THE LAST CALL TO ARMS OF CLAN GRANT—A DOUBLE FUNERAL—MACDOWAL GRANT OF ARNDILLY—ABERLOUR ORPHANAGE 159 THE “HOME-GOING” OF THREE BROTHERS 173 MARRIAGES OF MY SISTER EMILIA AND MY BROTHER WILLIAM—WE LEAVE SPEYSIDE AND SETTLE IN PERTHSHIRE—MY VISITS TO SKYE AND INDIA 191 RETURN TO ENGLAND—VISIT CORNWALL EN ROUTE TO CEYLON FOR TWO HAPPY YEARS 205 START FOR FIJI—LIFE IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND—DEATH OF THE REV. F. AND MRS. LANGHAM 216 CRUISE ON A FRENCH MAN-OF-WAR—TONGAN ISLES—SAMOA—TAHITI—CALIFORNIA—JAPAN 227 JAPANESE BURIAL-GROUNDS—CREMATION IN MANY LANDS—SACRED SCRIPTURE WHEELS—BUDDHIST ROSARIES 245 MYTHOLOGICAL PLAYS—JAPANESE THEATRES—THE FORTY-SEVEN RÔNINS—FLOWER FESTIVALS