Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/112

 some years H. H. had a rather unique collection of walking-sticks of strange shapes and designs, which were always kept in a dark corner in the hail of his Eaton Square residence together with the ordinary umbrellas and sticks. This not infrequently led to unforeseen results. One Sunday morning during the season a very dandified young man, who was stopping in the house, borrowed a stick and had walked half-way up the Square before he realized that he was carrying part of the jaw-bone of a shark. He went back to change it for an inoffensive-looking stick with a brown knob. It was only when he reached Church Parade that he discovered the inoffensive brown knob to be the head of Disraeli, while the rest of the stick represented a full length cartoon of the statesman. It was a wonderful piece of carving—a presentation to H. H. from some admirer in Canterbury. After this H. H. gave instructions for his curio sticks to be kept apart, and when he no longer saw them he speedily lost interest in his collection.

In 1883 H. H. visited Mauritius for the first time, and thereafter his associations with the island were of the happiest. A feeling of mutual sympathy and friendship existed until his death, and all things that affected the progress and prosperity of the Island were eagerly watched by him. Letters and weekly papers from Sir William Newton kept him informed of the general progress of the Colony, and were an additional link in the chain of pleasant memories.

Mauritian friends must forgive a twice-told tale for the sake of an old friendship. At philatelic gatherings, H. H. could never resist his best-loved story of the keen but impoverished stamp collector who advertised "Wanted—to meet a lady possessing a