[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
text is surrounded by _underscores_.]
Our Little English Cousin
THE
Little Cousin Series
(TRADE MARK)
Each volume illustrated with six or more full-page plates in
tint. Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover,
per volume, 60 cents
LIST OF TITLES
BY MARY HAZELTON WADE
(unless otherwise indicated)
=Our Little African Cousin=
=Our Little Alaskan Cousin=
By By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Arabian Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Armenian Cousin=
=Our Little Australian Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Brazilian Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Brown Cousin=
=Our Little Canadian Cousin=
By Elizabeth R. MacDonald
=Our Little Chinese Cousin=
By Isaac Taylor Headland
=Our Little Cuban Cousin=
=Our Little Dutch Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Egyptian Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little English Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Eskimo Cousin=
=Our Little French Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little German Cousin=
=Our Little Greek Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=
=Our Little Hindu Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Indian Cousin=
=Our Little Irish Cousin=
=Our Little Italian Cousin=
=Our Little Japanese Cousin=
=Our Little Jewish Cousin=
=Our Little Korean Cousin=
By H. Lee M. Pike
=Our Little Mexican Cousin=
By Edward C. Butler
=Our Little Norwegian Cousin=
=Our Little Panama Cousin=
By H. Lee M. Pike
=Our Little Philippine Cousin=
=Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=
=Our Little Russian Cousin=
=Our Little Scotch Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Siamese Cousin=
=Our Little Spanish Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Swedish Cousin=
By Claire M. Coburn
=Our Little Swiss Cousin=
=Our Little Turkish Cousin=
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
New England Building, Boston, Mass.
[Illustration: EDITH]
Our Little
English Cousin
By
Blanche McManus
_Illustrated by_
The Author
[Illustration]
Boston
L. C. Page & Company
Publishers
_Copyright, 1905_
BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)
_All rights reserved_
Published June, 1905
Fifth Impression, June, 1909
Introduction
THE lives of Our Little English Cousins are not so widely different from
our own in America. It is only the more ancient associations with which
they are surrounded that changes their manners and customs.
Their speech is the same and their amusements and tasks are to a great
extent quite similar.
Certain details of home life vary considerably, and when they "take
their walks abroad," "Our Little English Cousins," as often as not,
visit some ancient historic shrine from whose associations have been
built up the great British nation.
Little English cousins and Little American cousins alike, however,
would have the same affections for the same things were they but to
change places, therefore things are not so very different after all.
What Washington is to America, London is to Britain; meaning in this
case England, Ireland, and Scotland as well, for our little Scotch and
Irish cousins by no means like one to talk or write of England alone
when one really means Britain.
"Our Little English Cousin" lives in a less rigorous climate than that
which prevails for the most part in America. Their winters are in
general not so cold (though they are quite as long) and not usually so
bright and sunny. The summers are by no means so hot as ours and are
accordingly most delightful.
The open-air pleasures of our English cousins, while existent in our own
country, are at least more general than with us, and tea out-of-doors,
in the garden, or on the banks of the Thames is an institution which is
quite unique, and accordingly, as a summer divertisement, is greatly in
vogue.
The Associations which link America with England are many and important;
indeed they are so numerous that it were futile to attempt to give place
to any in this introductory note beyond recalling to the mind of little
American cousins that the great Washington himself was of a well-known
English family before they settled in America.
To-day, if the English are not emigrating to America to the extent that
they formerly were, our American cousins are returning the visits, if
only for pleasure or edification, in astonishingly growing numbers each
year.
All this makes for a better understanding and appreciation of each other
and cements the growing friendship of years, which in our progressive
times is a good thing not to overlook.
"Our Little English Cousin," then, extends a cordial hand of welcome,
not only to her cousins across the seas who annually make visits to her
native land, but to the stay-at-homes as well, who have that pleasure in
store for some future time.
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
I. EDITH'S HOME ON THE THAMES 1
II. A DAY AT HAMPTON COURT 13
III. A DRIVE TO RICHMOND AND KEW GARDENS 28
IV. WITH TOM AT WINDSOR CASTLE AND ETON 44
V. LONDON--HYDE PARK AND WESTMINSTER ABBEY 54
VI. THE TOWER OF LONDON 72
VII. MADAME TUSSAUD'S AND THE ZOO 80
VIII. HENLEY WEEK 89
IX. SUMMER HOLIDAYS 95
X. THE LORD MAYOR'S SHOW 103
List of Illustrations
PAGE
EDITH _Frontispiece_
OLDHAM MANOR 8
"IN A FEW MINUTES THEY HAD LANDED" 15
WINDSOR CASTLE 50
"AFTER WATCHING OTHER ANTICS OUR LITTLE FRIENDS BADE
THE 'BEEFEATER' AND HIS PET GOOD-BYE" 76
"SHE WALKED DOWN THE PATH BY THE RIVER AVON" 96
[Illustration]
Our Little English Cousin
CHAPTER I.
EDITH'S HOME ON THE THAMES
"NOW it is really time to get ready, is it not, Miss Green?" exclaimed
Edith, looking up at the clock for the twentieth time during the last
half-hour, and breaking off in the middle of the list of English kings
and queens which she was trying to commit to memory. Which king came
after Henry III., in that far-away time, seemed a small matter compared
to the outing which she and her governess had planned to enjoy on the
river that lovely afternoon.
Miss Green smiled indulgently as she closed her book. "It does seem a
shame to remain indoors a moment longer than one can help such a day as
this. Well, I will see Betty about the tea-things and pack them in the
basket while you are getting ready."
You may imagine it did not take Edith long to put away her books; then
giving her good-natured governess a hug she skipped off for her hat and
coat.
"There are Eleanor and Clarence waiting for us now," cried Edith, as she
and Miss Green, who was carrying the tea-basket, crossed the gardens.
Running over the lawn, which stretched down to the river, she greeted
her two little playmates from the vicarage. All three were bubbling over
with glee at the prospect of an outing this bright June afternoon upon
the river Thames. They were to go up-stream to a pretty little nook, in
a quiet "backwater," which was a favourite spot with them, and have a
"gipsy" tea under the willows.
The children were soon seated on cushions in the neat little shallow
punt. Towser, the big collie dog, was already in the boat, for he knew
he was a welcome companion on these trips.
Miss Green, standing at one end, poled the boat gracefully through the
water. This looks like an easy thing to do, but it takes a great deal of
skill to handle a punt.
"Does not the river look gay?" said Eleanor. "There are lots of people
out." The river indeed was covered with pleasure craft of all kinds.
There is probably no stream in the world so given up to pleasure as is
the Thames, which flows through the very heart of England; indeed it has
been called the "River of Pleasure."
It took all Miss Green's skill to steer through the many boats filled
with gay parties. Daintily fitted up rowboats with soft-cushioned
seats, the ladies in their bright summer dresses, with parasols of gay
colours; the men in white flannel suits and straw hats. There were many
punts like their own. Also tiny sailboats, some of them with bright red
or blue sails; while every now and then a crew of young men from one of
the colleges sculled past them, practising for the forthcoming
boat-race. All made way for these swift racing boats, for one of the
unwritten rules of the river is that boat crews must not be interfered
with while practising.
Occasionally our party in the punt would get the effect of a gentle wave
from an automobile boat or a steam-launch as it rushed by.
In the midst of it all were to be seen the swans gliding in and out
among the boats. The Thames swans are as well known as the river itself.
They are very privileged birds and directly under the protection of the
government itself. There are special keepers to look after them, and
any person who injured a swan in any way would be punished. But no harm
ever happens to them, for the lovely white birds are great pets with
every one, and the children especially like nothing better than to feed
them.
Along the banks, under the shade of overhanging trees, were merry
boat-loads of family parties making a picnic of their afternoon tea, as
our little party intended to do.
You must know that everybody in England takes what is called "five
o'clock tea," and would no more think of going without their tea in the
afternoon than their dinner.
Presently the punt glided behind a clump of trees. You would think it
was going into some one's garden, but out it came into a quiet bit of
water, a miniature bay quite apart from the main river. This is called a
"backwater." Catching hold of a tree with the hook on the end of her
pole, Miss Green brought the punt up against the bank under the
overhanging willows, and the young people were quickly out and on shore.
Then the tea-basket was brought from the punt. "Now, Clarence," said
Miss Green, "you fill the teakettle while the girls help me."
Their kettle was especially constructed for these occasions with a
hollow space in the bottom into which fits a small spirit-lamp,--this so
the wind cannot blow out the flame.
"My! we have got a jolly lot of cake; that's good," and Clarence looked
very approvingly at the nice plum-cake and the Madeira cake, which is a
sort of sponge cake with slices of preserved citron on top of it,--a
favourite cake for teas.
In a few minutes the water boiled in spite of everybody watching it
attentively, and Miss Green filled the teapot. Then they all gathered
around the dainty cloth spread on the grass, and the slices of bread and
butter, known as "cut bread and butter," and the lovely strawberry jam
quickly disappeared.
"Why do we always eat more out-of-doors," said Edith, "than when we are
indoors eating in the proper way? I suppose it is because we are doing
it for fun that it seems different from tea in the schoolroom."
"Perhaps the fresh air has more to do with it than anything else,"
laughed Miss Green, as she cut them the sixth piece of cake all around.
"Now you rest, Miss Green, and we will pack up everything," said
Eleanor.
"Yes, and let's wash up the tea-things. It will be fun," said Edith,
"and Betty will be surprised."
So the little girls amused themselves with their housekeeping, while
Clarence and Towser ran races up and down the greensward until it was
time to return.
[Illustration: OLDHAM MANOR]
The sun was setting when they pulled up at the steps of their
boat-landing where Colonel and Mrs. Howard, Edith's parents, were
sitting in comfortable wicker garden-chairs, waiting for them.
Oldham Manor, Edith's home, was a fine old house built in the "Tudor"
style, of red brick with stone doorways and windows, and quaint, tall,
ornamental chimneys, with the lower story entirely covered with ivy.
Colonel Howard was a retired army officer who had seen much service in
far-away India. He had to leave the army on account of his health, and
now devoted himself to his wife and two children, and his lovely home.
Mrs. Howard herself was a handsome and stately woman, rather reserved in
her manner, but devoted to her children.
Tom, Edith's brother, was at school at Eton College, so Edith had a
double share of petting, and led a very happy existence with plenty
of work and plenty of play. She had a pretty little room, with a little
brass bed, and an old-fashioned chest of drawers for her clothes. The
little dressing-table, which stood in front of one of the windows, was
draped with pink-flowered muslin, and the window curtains were of the
same material. The chairs were covered with a bright, pretty pink,
green, and white chintz, and the carpet was pale green with pink roses.
From the window of this delightful room, one overlooked the rose-garden.
Adjoining was the schoolroom, a big room where Miss Green and Edith
spent much of their time.
Edith usually dressed quickly, for, when the weather was fine, she and
her papa always took a walk around the gardens before breakfast. Colonel
Howard was very proud of his roses, and the rose garden of the manor was
quite famous; many of the rose-bushes were trained to form great arches
over the walks.
Another hobby of Colonel Howard's was his fancy chickens and ducks, of
which he had a great variety. Edith had her pet chickens, too, and she
and her papa could never agree as to whose chickens were the finest,
when they went to feed them in the morning.
Edith would run each morning into the breakfast-room, a bright-faced
little girl with sparkling blue eyes and golden brown hair tied up with
a pink ribbon and waving loosely over her shoulders--as all English
girls wear their hair until they are quite young ladies. Her dress was
very simply made, and around the neck was a pink ribbon--pink was her
favourite colour--tied in a bow. There was a "good-morning kiss" for
mamma, and Edith must help to fasten the rose in her hair, which Colonel
Howard always brought his wife.
Edith had a good appetite for her breakfast of porridge and cream, milk,
eggs and toast, or fish, or perhaps grilled kidneys and tomatoes, which
is a favourite English breakfast dish and very good indeed. Always she
finished with marmalade.
Breakfast over, then came the lessons in the schoolroom until one
o'clock, when Edith and Miss Green had their dinner served to them here.
After dinner she was free to walk or drive with her papa and mamma, or
Miss Green, or play games with her little friends in the neighbourhood.
Then for an hour in the afternoon Edith studied her lessons for the next
day, curled up on the big green sofa near the window, while Miss Green
read or sewed beside her, ready to help her out with a hard word.
Finally she had tea with Miss Green in the schoolroom at six o'clock,
and soon after this was ready for bed.
Thursday was a red-letter day for Edith, for in the afternoon she always
took tea with mamma and papa in state, in the drawing-room. This was so
that she should learn how to go through with it in the proper manner,
which is a very important part of a little English girl's education.
Mamma received her just as if she was a grown-up lady visitor, while
Edith put on her real "company" manners, and Colonel and Mrs. Howard
often could scarcely repress a smile at her great dignity when she began
the conversation with, "It's a charming day, is it not." "I take two
lumps of sugar only, thank you." Rainy afternoons she often worked on
fancy articles for the bazaars held by the Children's League of Mercy.
Edith was a member, and the money from the sales was given to help the
very poor children in their neighbourhood. So the little girl's days
passed pleasantly enough, as you may imagine.