Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/30

24 jessamine, and honeysuckle, completely covered the windows; but it made the room so dark, and, combined with the associations of poor Bindon's death, rendered the cottage so gloomy that I pulled it all down. I have a pretty little flower-garden, and a summer-house formed of a large overhanging bamboo. Would that I could transport myself and cottage to Essex! The weather has been lovely for the last month. I enjoy the cool fresh air in the morning very much. I am never in bed after half-past five in the morning, which is the best time to inhale the bracing mountain-breeze. I have got command of a very nice company. The men are mostly well-behaved. My endeavour has always been to be kind as well as strict; the consequence is (although I am my own trumpeter), the men, I believe, would do anything for me. Now, dearest mother, good by. Take care of your health, at least (if not for your own sake) for the sake of your ever fond and affectionate son,

About this time, in a letter to one of his sisters, he says:

"You did not mean to give me pain, dearest Mary, but in the same letter in which you tell me of my mother's illness, why did you remind me of those strange huffs in which I used to indulge, which may well make a son ashamed as he remembers them?"

This allusion refers to such domestic traditions of his childish perversity as have already been recorded. It touchingly reminds those who knew him best of the sensitive tenderness of his heart and conscience.

"Give my tender love," he adds, "to my darling mother, and tell her I received a lock of her hair and another of yours, and am going to get a small locket for each of them, and shall wear them round my neck