19Feb1877, Dear Hon. and Rev. Arthur

LONDON, February 19 th-25th, 1877.
—Stopt at Reading on my way to London, F. being obliged to go on for the House. Dear Hon. and Rev. Arthur [FN: Her brother Arthur was a curate at Reading at this time] met me on the platform, walked me about the town (mem. quite the finest new town-hall I have ever seen), gave me an excellent luncheon in his snug lodgings all be-booked and be-pictured (I buttered his good ugly landlady for making him so comfortable), and then took me to see his new church, and his mission-room, etc. He is very happy, and the parish most beautifully organized and full of flourishing good works: services and schools crowded, young men's guilds, and what not; and a galaxy of what he calls "holy spinsters" ready to fly to the rescue on all occasions. Being a supernumerary, he is not over-worked, but has time for reading, just as Papa would have wished.