Note 75 — Chapter III · BOYHOOD—EDINBURGH ACADEMY—“OLD 31”—HOLIDAYS AT GLENLAIR—1841 TO 1844—ÆT. 10-13.

This helps to fix the date of this letter. Mrs. R. Cay joined her husband in China early in the spring of 1845. Her son Alexander was born May 7, and christened on Wednesday, June 26, 1844. Mr. C. Maxwell had left Edinburgh for Glenlair on June 7, taking with him six pigeons in a basket, and some cuttings of pelargonium. His first entry in the Diary after this, at Glenlair, is as follows:—“Saturday, June 8.—Got home to dinner, and find all well After dinner plant cuttings of pelargonium from Killearn, and sort the doves in the new dove-cot.”