<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></SPAN>CHAPTER II</h2>
<h3>THE ROCK FROM WHICH SHE WAS HEWN</h3>
<blockquote><p><i>"It is not the weariness of mortality, but the Strength of Divinity
which we have to recognize in all mighty things."</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the centre stands Elsie Inglis, the "woman of gentle
breeding, short of stature, alert, and with the eyes of a
seer," and "a smile like sunshine"; and on either side and
behind this central figure the stage is crowded with men
and women of long ago, the people of her race. One by
one they catch our eye, and we note their connection with
the central figure.</p>
<p>Far back in the group (for it is near two hundred years
ago) stands Hugh Inglis, hailing from Inverness-shire.
He was a loyal supporter of Prince Charlie, and the owner
of a yacht, which he used in gun-running in the service
of the Prince.</p>
<p>A little nearer are two of Elsie's great-grandfathers,
John Fendall and Alexander Inglis. John Fendall was
Governor of Java at the time when the island was
restored to the Dutch. The Dutch fleet arrived to take
it over before Fendall had received his instructions from
the Government, and he refused to give it up till they
reached him—a gesture not without a parallel in the
later years of the life of his descendant. Alexander
Inglis, leaving Inverness-shire, emigrated to South
Carolina, and was there killed in a duel fought on some
point of honour. Through his wife, Mary Deas, Elsie's
descent runs up to Robert the Bruce on the one hand,
and, on the other, to a family who left France after
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in
Scotland.</p>
<p>As we thread our way through the various figures
on the stage we are attracted by a group of three
women. They are the daughters of the Governor of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</SPAN></span>
Java, "the three Miss Fendalls." One of them, Harriet,
is Elsie's grandmother. All three married, and their
descendants in the second generation numbered well over
a hundred! Harriet Fendall married George Powney
Thompson, whose father was at one time secretary to
Warren Hastings. George Thompson himself was a
member of the East India Company, and ruled over large
provinces in India. One of their nine daughters, Harriet
Thompson, was Elsie's mother.</p>
<p>On the other side of the stage, in the same generation
as the Miss Fendalls, is another group of women. These
are the three sisters of Elsie's grandfather, David Inglis,
son of Alexander, who fared forth to South Carolina, and
counted honour more dear than life.</p>
<p>David was evidently a restless, keen, adventurous man;
many years of his life were spent in India in the service
of the East India Company. Of his three sisters—Katherine,
painted by Raeburn; Mary, gentle and quiet;
and Elizabeth—we linger longest near Elizabeth. She
never married, and was an outstanding personality in the
little family. She was evidently conversant with all the
questions of the day, and commented on them in the
long, closely written letters which have been preserved.</p>
<p>After David's return from India he must have intended
at one time to stand for Parliament. Elizabeth writes to
him from her "far corner" in Inverness-shire, giving him
stirring advice, and demanding from him an uncompromising,
high standard. She tells him to "unfurl his
banner"; she knows "he will carry his religion into his
politics." "Separate religion from politics!" cries Elizabeth;
"as well talk of separating our every duty from
religion!"</p>
<p>Needless anxiety, one would think, on the part of the
good Highland lady, for the temptation to leave religion
out of any of his activities can scarcely have assailed
David. We read that when Elsie's grandfather had
returned from the East to England he used to give missionary
addresses, not, one would think, a common form
of activity in a retired servant of the East India Company.
One hears this note of genuine religion in the lives of
those forebears of Elsie's.</p>
<p class="center"><SPAN name="gs023.jpg" id="gs023.jpg"></SPAN><ANTIMG src="images/gs023.jpg" width-obs='559' height-obs='700' alt="THE MISSES FENDALL" /></p>
<h5>Lady D'Oyly Mrs. Lowis Mrs. Thompson<br/>
(Elsie's Grandmother)</h5>
<h4>THE MISSES FENDALL</h4>
<h5>FROM A DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL C. FENDALL,
C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., ETC.</h5>
<p>"The extraordinary thing in all the letters, whether<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</SPAN></span>
they were written by an Inglis, a Deas, or a Money, is
the pervading note of strong religious faith. They not
only refer to religion, but often, in truly Scottish fashion,
they enter on long theological dissertations."</p>
<p>David married Martha Money. Close to Martha on the
stage stands her brother, William Taylor Money, Elsie's
great-uncle. We greet him gladly, for he was a man of
character. He was a friend of Wilberforce, and a Member
of Parliament when the Anti-Slavery Bill was passed.
Afterwards "he owned a merchant vessel, and gained great
honour by his capture of several of the Dutch fleet, who
mistook him for a British man-of-war, the smart appearance
of his vessel with its manned guns deceiving them."
There is a picture in Trinity House of his vessel bringing
in the Dutch ships. Later, he was Consul-General
at Venice and the north of Italy, where he died, in
1834, in his gondola! He had strong religious convictions,
and would never infringe the sacredness of the
Sabbath-day by any "secular work." In a short biography
of him, written in 1835, the weight of his religious
beliefs, which made themselves felt both in
Parliament and when Consul, is dwelt on at length.
A son of David and Martha Inglis, John Forbes
David Inglis, was Elsie's father. John went to India
in 1840, following his father's footsteps in the service
of the East India Company. Thirty-six years of his
life were spent there, with only one short furlough home.
He rose to distinction in the service, and gained the love
and trust of the Indian peoples. After he retired in 1876
one of his Indian friends addressed a letter to him, "John
Inglis, England, Tasmania, or wherever else he may be,
this shall be delivered to him," and through the ingenuity
of the British Post Office it was delivered in Tasmania.</p>
<p>Elsie's mother, Harriet Thompson, went out to India
when she was seventeen to her father, George Powney
Thompson. She married when she was eighteen.</p>
<p>She met her future husband, John Inglis, at a dance in
her father's house. Her children were often told by their
father of the white muslin dress, with large purple flowers
all over it, worn by her that evening, and how he and
several of his friends, young men in the district, drove
fifty miles to have the chance of dancing with her!<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"She must have had a steady nerve, for her letters are
full of various adventures in camp and tiger-haunted
jungles, and most of them narrate the presence of one of
her infants, who was accompanying the parents on their
routine of Indian official life." In 1858, when John
Inglis was coming home on his one short furlough, she
trekked down from Lahore to Calcutta with the six
children in country conveyances. The journey took
four months; then came the voyage round the Cape,
another four months. Of course she had the help of
ayahs and bearers on the journeys, but even with such
help it was no easy task.</p>
<p>John Inglis saw his family settled in Southampton, and
almost immediately had to return to India, on the outbreak
of the Mutiny. His wife stayed at home with the
children, until India was again a safe place for English
women, when she rejoined her husband in 1863.</p>
<p class='tbrk'> </p>
<p>They crowd round Elsie Inglis, these men and women
in their quaint and attractive costumes of long ago; we
feel their influence on her; we see their spirit mingling
with hers. As we run our eye over the crowded stage,
we see the dim outline of the rock from which she was
hewn, we feel the spirit which was hers, and we hail it
again as it drives her forth to play her part in the great
drama of the last three years of her life.</p>
<p>The members of every family, every group of blood
relations, are held together by the unseen spirit of their
generations. It matters little whether they can trace
their descent or not; the peculiar spirit of that race which
is theirs fashions them for particular purposes and work.
And what are they all but the varied expressions of the
One Divine Mind, of the Endless Life of God?</p>
<p class="center"><SPAN name="gs028.jpg" id="gs028.jpg"></SPAN><ANTIMG src="images/gs028.jpg" width-obs='564' height-obs='700' alt="ELSIE INGLIS AT THE AGE OF 2 YEARS" /></p>
<h4>ELSIE INGLIS</h4>
<h5>AT THE AGE OF 2 YEARS</h5>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</SPAN></span></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.