Day of My Delight Martin Boyd 1965

First Paragraph:

"Samedi 10 Juin. S.Landry. Minnie not very well. I went for a walk and bought a bottle of eau-de-cologne, a chessboard and three cakes for the children. Minnie came down to dejeuner and had some fish that the Russian officer caught. Her baby born at twenty-five minutes past four in the afternoon. She has a sage-femme who speaks English, and a nurse who speaks German and French, and likes them very well. Everyone asks very kindly after her. Mrs. Hay-Gordon came back from Brunnen today. Played bezique with her in the evening."

Over half a century later I discovered this account of my birth in my grandmother's diaries. The year of the entry was 1893, and my family were in Switzerland.

My grandmother then went to Paris but came back to Lucerne for my christening. She wrote "The baby smiles a great deal when spoken to", also that I "behaved very nicely" at the christening; that I had a Venetian lace cap; and that a French lady gave me a bouquet. In the evening they all went to the Casino.

From the Lansdowne paperback edition, 1979.

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Last modified: October 24, 2003.