“You know my mode of life and my enjoyments are necessarily very different from Eurie’s and Marion’s.  Those two naturally look upon this place as an escape from every-day drudgery; in short, as an economical place in which to enjoy a vacation and see a good deal of first-class society; for there are a great many first-class people here, there is no denying that.  Not many from our set, you know, but a great many celebreties in the literary world that it is really very pleasant to see.

“I am not sorry that I came; if for nothing else I am glad to have come on the girls’ account; they would hardly have ventured without me, and it is a real treat to them.

“You will wonder what has become of poor little Flossy, and want to know whether she is going to follow me to Saratoga as usual, but the little sprite refuses to go!  I fancy Marion has been teasing her; you know she is very susceptible to ridicule, and it suits Marion’s fancy to amuse herself at the expense of those people who weary of Chautauqua.  She has attempted something of the kind on me, but, of course I am indifferent to any such shafts, having been in the habit of leading, rather than following, all my life.  It seems natural, I suppose, to do so still.  I think well of Chautauqua.  It is a good place for people to come who have not much money to spend, and who like to be in a pleasant place among pleasant people; and who enjoy fine music, and fine lectures, and all that sort of thing, and are so trammelled by work and small means at home that they cannot cultivate these tastes.  But, of course, all these things are no treat to me, and I do not hesitate to tell you that I am bored.  There is too much preaching to suit my fancy—­not real preaching, either, for we haven’t had what you could call a sermon until to-day, but lectures, which constantly bring the same theme before you.

“Now you are not to conclude from this that I do not believe in preaching, and Sunday, and all that sort of thing; on the contrary, I believe more fully in them all than I did before I came.  In fact I have this very afternoon come to a determination which may surprise you, and which is partly the occasion of my writing this letter, in order that you may know at once what to expect.  Harold, as soon as the season is over, and I get back home, I am going to unite with the church?  Have I astonished you!  I am going to do this from a conviction of duty.  You need not imagine that I have been wrought up to such a pitch of excitement that I don’t know what I am about.  I assure you there is nothing of the kind.  I have simply concluded that it is an eminently proper thing to do.  So long as I believe fully in the church and in religion, and wish to sustain both by my money and my influence, why should I not say so?  That is a very simple and altogether proper way of saying it, and saves a good deal of troublesome explanation.  I wonder that I haven’t thought of it before.