The Henson Journals

[269]

Monday, July 12th, 1915.

343rd day

We left Durham by the 8.20 express, & travelled to King's Cross very comfortably. Our compagnons de voyage were the Rector of Gateshead & his mother. At Grantham a young soldier entered the carriage. I offered him a share in our sandwiches, which he accepted with the frankness of youth, & the ardour of appetite. Having thus broken the ice, we had much conversation. His name was Grierson, and he hailed from the Shetland islands. The Marquis of Zetland had given him a nomination to Christ's Hospital, which he had left only a few months ago in order to start work in a Winnipeg auctioneer's office. Thence he returned on the outbreak of the war as a member of the Canadian force. He had been wounded in the great charge at St Julien, & was now convalescent. He was only 18 years old, & now hoped to get a commission, & make the Army his career, like most of his ancestors. We talked much of the Shetland islands. He said that 'Norna of the Fitful Head' was an ancestress of his, & that he was an ardent reader of Scott's Romances, indeed, had enjoyed the reputation of being the only boy in Christ's Hospital who had read them all. History was his favourite study: since the war began he had read Motley's books with immense interest. The lad was troubled by a bad stammer but said he was hoping to get the better of it. I asked him to come & see us at Durham. We stayed in a quaint little poky skeleton of a London House as the guests of Mrs Travers Lewis, the widow of the late Archbishop of Ontario who (as she proudly affirms) enjoys the disastrous distinction of having founded the Lambeth Conference. She herself runs the "Ada Leigh" Home in Paris.

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