I wonder whether you thought of us yesterday?  But I know you did!  We had planned a Johnny Gilpin out for the day, but it proved impossible.  So we spent it thus—­A.M.  Full Cathedral Service with the Holy Communion, which was very nice, though, as it was a Feast Day, the service was later than usual, so it took all our morning.  Rex played the organ.  We spent most of the afternoon in tuning the organ, and then R. went off to mesmerize a man for neuralgia, and I went up town to try and get something good for dinner!

I am very happy, though at times one longs to see certain faces.  But GOD is very good, and I have all that I can desire almost.

The Spring flowers are very lovely, some of them.  I must go out.  Adieu.

Best love to your Mother and all, to Lucy especially.

Your ever affectionate, J.H.E.

TO MRS. GATTY.

Fredericton. June 8, 1868.

MY DEAREST MOTHER,

Does the above sketch give you the faintest idea of what it is to paddle up and down these lovely rivers with their smaller tributaries and winding creeks, on a still sunny afternoon?  It really is the most fascinating amusement we have tried yet.  Mr. Bliss took us out the other day, it being the first time either of us was in a canoe, and Rex took one of the paddles, and got on so well that we intend to have a canoe of our own.  Peter Poultice is building it, and I hope soon to send you a sketch of Rex paddling his own canoe!  Of us, I may say, for I tried a paddle to-day, and mean to have a little one of my own to give my valuable assistance in helping the canoe along.  Next month when Rex can get away we think of going up the river to “Grand Falls” (the next thing to Niagara, they say) by steamer, taking our canoe with us, and then paddling ourselves home with the stream.  About eighty miles.  Of course we should do it bit by bit, sleeping at stopping-places.  One art Rex has not yet acquired, and it looks awful!  A sort of juggler’s trick, that of carrying his canoe.  Imagine taking hold of the side of a canoe that would hold six people, throwing it up and overturning it neatly on your head, without injuring either your own skull or the canoe’s bottom....  This canoeing is really a source of great pleasure to us, and will more thaw double the enjoyment of summer to me.  With a canoe Rex can “pull” me to a hundred places where a short walk from the shore will give me sketching, botanizing, and all I want!  Moreover, the summer heat at times oppresses my head, and then to get on the water gives a cool breeze, and freshens one up in a way that made me think of what it must be to people in India to get to “the hills.”  I have never wished for some of you more than on this lovely river, gliding about close to the water (you sit on the very bottom of the canoe), all the trees