LOST ILLUSIONS

Evening Star, Issue 22952, 9 May 1938, Page 1

LOST ILLUSIONS

EX-RECTOR’S WIDOW Mrs Moyra (Harold) Davidson, small, “permed,” and sprightly, told me as we stood among the flowers of her neat little house in Exeter road, South Harrow, how she had found comfort through adversity (says a writer in a London paper). “ I used to be an awful snob,” said the 59-year-old widow of the former Rector of Stiffkoy. “ A large rectory, servants, a gardener, £9OO a year, and all that. . . But now I know that only the man who regards every other as a brother, and the woman who regards every other as a sister, have the right view of life. I am without illusions, but not angry.” Mrs Davidson said she had not received any compensation for her husband’s death, from the injuries inflicted by a lion in whose cage he appeared at a Skegness side show, although legal proceedings had been contemplated. Dressed in her yellow jumper, grey gardening ” skirt, and soil-caked shoes, she explained that her 17-year-old daughter Pamela and the profusion of autumn blooms in her garden (“ I planted it all myself!”) were the comforts of her life.

“ Pamela is dancing in the show at the Windmill Theatre, and was recently given a speaking part. “ One dignitary of the Church of England has remained a friend—the Bishop of London, Dr Wilmington Ingram—who married my husband and me. He has sent me gifts, and I am grateful.”