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MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO DALLAS . SAN FRANCISCO
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO
_From a photograph enlarged by an American artist._ ]
LIFE OF OCTAVIA HILL AS TOLD IN HER LETTERS
“_The Holy Supper is kept indeed In what so we share with another’s need. Not what we give, but what we share; For the gift without the giver is bare._”
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON 1913
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It was but a short time before the death of Miss Octavia Hill that one of her sisters succeeded, with much difficulty, in convincing her that some account of her life would be necessary to satisfy the public demand.
On realising this fact, she expressed a strong wish that the family should keep the details of such a memoir in their own hands; and she afterwards made a special request that the final decision as to what should be published, and what suppressed, should rest with me.
It will, therefore, be understood that I am rather the editor than the author of this book. The most important part of this Memoir will be found in the letters; and it is by my express wish that they are printed in larger type than the explanations which link them together.
But even those explanations are only in a limited sense my own work. All I have done is to weave together statements made by my wife and her sisters, a paper left by their Mother, and, in the very early part, the recollections of Octavia’s early playmate, Miss Margaret Howitt.
Only in those chapters which cover the period from 1866 to 1877 have I trusted, to any considerable extent, to my own memory; for it was in those years that I was most closely associated with some parts of Octavia’s work.
With regard to the letters, there are two points to note. First, I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to arrange them chronologically; not separating the special subjects, in which Octavia was interested, from each other, but rather suggesting the variety of interests which were occupying her mind at the same time. Secondly, I have endeavoured to emphasise the human and family sympathy, and not merely her business capacity.