An Autobiography of an Ancient Athlete & Antiquarian

166 AUTOBIOGRAPHY clever London barristers, attending and frankly admitting they were'' angling" for votes at the next election. Stock– ings, an enthusiastic :fisherman, and a most genial man made an admirable chairman. On the 5th December I went up to the Oxford and Cambridge Match at Roehampton, and saw Jack White for the last time. The only old face was that of Michod. I took the chair at the dinner at the Trocadero, which was a noisy and silly function, with a lot of stupid ragging .afterwards. Ou the 13th December I attended the Cathedral Service as Mayor. On the 15th the second Council meet– fog was a very long (3½ hours) and stormy one. Some of the young Conservative bloods were somewhat provoca– tive, but the noisiest of the lot was on the other side. After this unpleasant experience I only just had time to take the chair at a lecture given by my old friend, the Rev. F. W. Macdonald, one of the best lecturers I ever heard, but who was very unfairly treated by the clergyman who introduced him, and who, in his far too long intro– .duction, used up most of his best points and anecdotes. During the winter my eldest daughter and I busied ourselves very much iu organising help for the Soup Kitchen in the interests of the Unemployed. This soup kitchen was an old and a most deserving charity, and I supported it as much as I could out of my fund. The distribution of the soup, however, by dated tickets allocated to each parish was greatly hindered by the extreme imbecility of some two or three of the parsons who altered the dates in MSS. without notifying me or the manager, or getting our consent. However, the ability of the manager and his wife tided over the difficulty somehow, and the soup was extremely strong, thick, and good, and greatly appreciated, as were the free meals and puddings provided by many charitably disposed people, and collected sedulously by my daughter and a friend. I threw what energy I could into the Unemployed Fund, for it was the only thing I could find to do, and I must own I was rather incited to do my best by the fact that my predecessor had condoled with me on the difficulty I should have in approaching his collection owing to the greater want that seemed likely, and the nearness of sub– scribers themselves hard hit by the bad trade. As a matter