From collection Frances Willard Journal Transcripts
years a remarkable field naturalist-for he is a remarkable observer-or an archeologist, explorer or a "mighty hunter"-only fear it would not be "before the Lord."
December 28, 1893
Adeline, Duchess of Bedford, Isabel's only living sister is at the priory for two days. The younger sister died when a few years old & the two older did not regret it "because they saw very little of her a knew when she died they should have better chances& more money! I have seen "Sister Adeline" but twice. She is a graceful, rather tall, good looking woman, and quite accomplished, a great scholar & so on. Her intimate friends are the Archbishop of Canterbury's family. Her income is fifty thousand dollars a year with a handsome town house and a country home. She has a great sense of the importance of ".keeping up her position" [entry continues onto space for 12/29/93] &she &Isabel seem not to have an opinion in common. She is a high church woman-devoted to the rubric& formulae of all kinds. Doubtless she is a good woman according to her outlook but a dear lover of money& a mind essentially conservative at all points. She has long been a total abstainer but takes no part in public organized work beyond permitting the use of her name to one or two church societies.
Nan& Bess write that they have not seen the sun but once in their nearly 2 weeks absence. Sunny Spain is "not in it" in winter any more than is Mississippi.
December 30, 1893
[....Lu..] the Christian Exploiter came down to Reigate yesterday oc we had a preliminary [? ] talk-he Sc Isabel Sc I up here in my den about that seven year old dream of the Pol'fglot petition on its travels, the polyglot petition Commission to the Governments & all the rest of it. How often have I talked it over with my Mother in Rest Cottage "that was" but can not be again beause she no more makes it home. (Dear rifted nest how far away thou art but net so far in time & space as in the heart's real inner world!) It now looks as if a steamship will be charted and kept throughout the whole trip around the world. To organize the expedition will be a heavy task.
December 31, 1893
On Saturday [12/30] Mrs Ward Poole & Percy 3[............... ] came for
talk about the new paper. Isabel has need of several helpers for she can only give a general observation to any of her varied and multiplying enterprises. Then we came here to Haslemere "across country" and slept the sleep of the just for 10 hours. There is surely something helpful in the air of these beautiful hills. Tennyson 5c Tyndall all knew it or they would not have come. Each ride is a new revelation of beauty & charm. We were out two hours
