Short Cuts has unearthed a peculiarly delightful letter of the
Duke of Wellington's, which runs as follows :—" Strath. fieldsaye, July 27th, 1837.—Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington is happy to inform William Harries that his toad is alive and well." During one of his country walks, the Duke found a little boy lying on the ground, bending his head over a tame toad, and crying as if his heart would break. On being asked what was the matter, the child explained that he was crying "for his poor toad." He brought it something to eat every morning, but he was now to be sent away to school a long distance off, and he was afraid that nobody else would give it anything to eat, and that it would die. The Duke, however, consoled him by saying that he would himself see the toad well fed, and by further promising to let the boy hear as to its welfare. During the time the boy was away at school, he received no less than five autograph letters similar to that given above ; and when he returned for the Christmas holidays, the toad was still alive to gladden his heart. 'The story is even more delightful than that of the Duke's indignation when he found that a party of children at Strathfieldsaye—among whom, we believe, was the present Prime Minister—were having their tea without jam. The incident roused him to immediate action, and he at once rang the bell and issued a general order that "children's tea" was never to be served in his house with such" maimed rights."
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