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 CHAPTER III

Education

From the parental abode at Calcutta James Thomason was sent to England at the age of ten. It was unfortunate that he was kept in India so long, for this doubtless caused him to shoot up like a tropical plant to a height beyond his strength. Arrived in England he was consigned to the care of Simeon in loco parentis. He brought with him, as a present from his parents to Simeon, a miniature of Abdúl-Masíh, the first Muhammadan convert; which picture is still to be seen at Cambridge with Simeon's inscription. He was received by Simeon and Mrs. Dornford with all the tenderness that could be imagined for such an occasion. Indeed, the genuine heartiness of Simeon's emotions, on receiving his god-son, is quite refreshing. He addresses the youth as 'Your loving father in man's stead, your anxious father in God's stead.'

By this time Simeon, now fifty-four years old, had attained that important position in the Church which he held to the end of his life. His long-protracted