The life and letters of George John Romanes / written and edited by his wife.
- Romanes, Ethel Duncan
- Date:
- 1896
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The life and letters of George John Romanes / written and edited by his wife. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
22/410 page 4
![promise, at least there were the signs of a singularly ])ure and unselfish nature which seemed to grow and develope with the growing years. All through his life he was peculiarly tender, gentle, and unselfish, and his younger sister describes a little scene of how, \\'hile a children’s party was going on downstairs, George found her upstairs alone and miserable, suffer- ing from some odd childish misery of nerves, unable to go down, and yet hating to be alone; how he at once soothed and petted her, sat by her the whole evening, telling her stories and successfully driving away her unhappiness. The most characteristic bit appears at the end. This sort of unselfish conduct was so usual, that his little sister really forgot to thank him, nor did it occur to her till long after that there was anything unusual in his willingness to sacrifice a whole evening’s amusement to what most hoys would have regarded as mere fancifulness, only deserving a due amount of severe teasing. During these y(nirs the Eomanes family spent their summers at .Dunskaith, on the shores of the (h’omarty Firth. Here George Eomanes had his first lessons in sport at the hands of Dr. Brydon, the well- known survivor of the fatal retreat from Cabul, 1842.^ He soon became an ardent sportsman and excellent shot, and not until his fatal illness began did he ever fail to keep August 12 and September 1 in the proper way. When George Eomanes was about seventeen, he was sent to a tutor to read in preparation for the University, his mother having suddenly awakened to the fact that he was nearly grown up and not at all ready for college. One of his fellow pupils was Mr. ^ l)r. Brydon resided on a small but beautiful property overlooking tlie Cromarty Firth, and, after his death, Dr. Eomanes rented the place from its owners, who were distant cousins of Mrs. Eomanes, in order that ‘ George might have some shooting.’](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28036736_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
