CHAPTER VII
A PICNIC ON THE THAMES
ALTHOUGH denied the enjoyment of the holiday excursion to Box Hill with Morris and our Hammersmith comrades, as stated in the foregoing chapter, I was fortunate in having a more privileged outing with him on another occasion. Holiday expeditions were one of Morris' favourite enjoyments. He was remarkably fond of any kind of outdoor recreation which he could share with his friends; and considering his extraordinary zest for work and how constantly busy was his whole life, it is surprising how much pastime and holidaying he succeeded in snatching from the hours and days as they passed. He seemed ever ready for some diversion or adventure; and even during the most strenuous period of his Socialist agitation we have constant glimpses in his letters of his relaxing himself in some outing or amusement.
The occasion I am about to speak of was in the summer, I think, of 1889, when I spent a few days at Kelmscott House. Morris had written me, urging me to come on the Friday evening, or at latest on the Saturday morning, in order to join in a picnic trip on the river. 'Come on Saturday if you can,' he wrote, 'and you may have another opportunity of showing your disgust at the scenery of the pock-puddings of the South'—an allusion to my having spoken disparagingly of the scenery of the Home Counties in retaliation for his having said that there were 'no rivers in Scotland, only some mountain torrents.'
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