I was born at No - The MAN & Other Families

16the preacher was preaching in the top storey he was on a level with the people in thegallery. The rector was a Mr. Lindon, a tall austere man with a long white beard and usedto remind me of Aaron. He, like our rector at St. Silas’ changed from white surplice toblack gown for the sermon.Aggie and I were confirmed by the Bishop of Winchester in St. Helier's parish Churchabout this time. The Dean of Jersey, Dean Le Breton, was a remarkably handsome man,tall and florid, with white hair and side whiskers, he was the father of the famous Mrs.Langtry, the “Jersey Lily”.Aggie and I had piano lessons from Mr. Stevens, the organist of our Church, who livedopposite. He thought I had a voice and wanted to give me singing lessons, but here againfinancial reasons interposed which I thought was a good thing, as I think he must havebeen mistaken as to my vocal capabilities. I remember him telling me I would never be agood pianist as I trusted too much to my ear and in this he was right.After a few months at Mrs. Le Geyt's we moved to other and more comfortable lodgingsfurther up St. Mark's road. Our landlady there was a Mrs. Binet with a large family ofboys who all lived in the basement, while we occupied the rest of the house.The first year we were in Jersey we spent the summer holidays at a place calledBeaumont, about five miles from St. Helier's on the sea-coast. There was a beautifulsandy beach from which we used to bathe and spear cockles and there were also prettywalks in the interior. We enjoyed that summer at Beaumont.The next summer holidays Mary and Aggie went to Scotland to visit the Taylors and theMacfarlanes. The rest of the family went over to Brittany where we took up ourresidence at a boarding house in St. Servan, a suburb of St. Male. This boarding housewas kept by a Madame Cusack and our fellow boarders were of mixed nationalities;English, Scotch, French and Spanish. The conversation at meals was French. We likedSt. Servan and made little trips from there to St. Male and Dinard. I travelled bydiligence to more extended trips by myself. To Dinant, a very picturesque little town onthe river Rance, where I stopped the night; thence to Granville where I saw the famousIsland and Castle of Mont St. Michael and thence returned to St. Malo by steamer and onto St. Servan. It was on this trip I saw for the first and only time in my life a man (theticket agent at Granville) using sand instead of blotting paper.On our return to Jersey we took lodgings by the sea-side at a place called "Havre-de-pas"where there was a nice sandy beach and good bathing. Denison and Wilfred, who weresmall boys of nine and five respectively, were very happy digging in the sand.At this time Aunt Mary, who was then living at Southsea, wrote my mother stronglyrecommending our leaving Jersey and locating in Southsea, which she said was just aseconomical as Jersey, so my mother decided to do so.I was sorry to leave Victoria College. I had been in the junior sixth form and if I hadremained another year would have been in the senior sixth and might have had a chance