Tags:

Elderfield
April10 th [1883]

MS Mrs Clare Roels

My dear Christabel

I suppose you are beginning daily life again1. When in some ways it is so hard When it feels as if there were so few in the house, and yet when people talk it gets into a whirl and one does not care about it, and oh! the letters that seem as if they would never get themselves written. I suppose you stay where you are and in that way are much better off than if it brought a change of home. I hope Mrs Coleridge is getting better bodily ailment is such a help at such times if only for the needful quiet.

I had the honour of shaking hands with the Archbishop.2 I never saw any man look happier I never saw Mrs Benson at all, except perhaps the top of her bonnet, but Miss Bramston brought the Girls and we all stood together with Mr Browne listening to the speeches at the luncheon. It was a very noble, English thing altogether. Miss Bramston came and drank tea with me on the Monday after, and I gave her the letters which had been returned from Macmillan. She sent back the first half of them yesterday with this note. She is taking the others to Truro. There she means to stay for two years, before settling in the East [inserted] of England. One Miss Benson goes on with her, the other is at Lady Margaret.3 The Dean has resigned and the new one is appointed, but they keep it a secret who it is to be as yet.4 Our poor policeman died after five weeks lingering. I wish there were more orphanages for boys like the many for girls.

I do think it is a great blessing that you have interests made not to begin again

your affectionate
C M Yonge

1Her father the Rev. Derwent Coleridge died on 28 March 1883.
2The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson (1829-1896), the former Bishop of Truro, had been enthroned at Canterbury on 29 March 1883.
3Mary Eleanor Benson (1863–1890) and Margaret Benson (1865-1916) were both educated at Truro Girls’ High School and at Lady Margaret Hall. They joined the latter in 1881 and 1883 respectively, which is a bit hard to reconcile with this letter, and possibly CMY may have misunderstood. Mary Eliza Bramston had been a governess in the family.
4The Rev. Dr. George William Kitchin became Dean of Winchester in 1883, in succession to the Very Rev. John Bramston, who was over 80.

Cite this letter


The Letters of Charlotte Mary Yonge(1823-1901) edited by Charlotte Mitchell, Ellen Jordan and Helen Schinske.

URL to this Letter is: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/yonge/2771/to-christabel-rose-coleridge-107

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.