She kept in
touch with all her descendants by habitually corresponding with
them, and the advice given by this shrewd, wise old counsellor,
with her ninety years of experience, was invariably followed by
its recipients. She made a point of travelling to London to attend
the weddings of every one of her descendants, and even journeyed
up to be present at the Coronation of King Edward in her ninetieth
year. It is given to but few to see their GRANDSON'S GRANDSON; it
is granted to fewer to live ninety-three years with the full use
of every intellectual faculty, and the retention of but slightly
impaired bodily powers; and seldom is it possible to live to so
great an age with the powers of enjoyment and of unabated interest
in the lives of others still retained.
She never returned to Ireland after her widowhood, but was able,
up to the end of her life, to pay a yearly autumn visit to her
beloved Scotland. And so, under the rolling Sussex downs, amidst
familiar woodlands and villages, full of years, and surrounded by
the lore of all those who knew her, the long day closed.
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