known I often made acquaintance with the splendid
gallop of his sleighs, all furs and colour and delightful
excitement: on one occasion having nearly had
nose and ears frost-bitten till my neighbour with
his fur gloves and snow rubbed life into them again.
With Dr. Dawson of M’Gill University I had plenty
of geological talk, especially about the new found
Eozoa of the St. Lawrence stratum,—and
with his clever son, and my cousin, Professor Selwyn.
Thereafter I went south, the welcome guest of other
cousins, the Vaughan-Tuppers of Brooklyn, among my
most hospitable friends over there: and we routed
out all about our family in America, as recorded for
ten generations in Freeman’s “History of
Massachusetts.” And I feasted at Mr. Trocke’s
on trout from “Tupper Lake” in the Adirondacks,—the
name coming from an ancestor, not as after me, though
sometimes thought so; and I met with many points both
of family and of authorial interest. Then I was
entertained by the New England Society, which, amongst
abounding luxuries, still produces as a characteristic
dish the frugal pork and beans of Puritan times.
And the Century and other Clubs made me free of them.
And of course Longfellow, Bryant, Fields, Biglow,
O.W. Holmes, and many others, opened their houses
and hearts to me. And I met and dined in company
with General Grant and all sorts of other celebrities,—and
so did all I hoped to do. Going south, Brantz
Mayer at Baltimore, my cousin the Rev. Dr. Tupper (Bishop
of the Baptists), and many others are memorable.
Stay, I will give a casual extract from my home-letter,
No. 39, of my second visit, giving several names.
“Jan. 18, 1877, evening. Took an oyster
tea at Brantz Mayer’s, and read to a party several
things by request, especially as to the souls of animals.
Judge Bond called for me there in his carriage, and
took me (as invited by the President) to a great assemblage
of Baltimore magnates (inaugurating the John Hopkins
University), where I had casually quite an ovation,
meeting literally hundreds of friends: I cannot
pretend to remember many names, but these will remind
me of others: General McClellan, General Ellicott
(cousin to our Bishop), Carroll, the State Governor,
no end of professors, among them Sylvester, who knew
my brother Arthur at the Athenaeum, plenty of judges,
presidents of institutions, doctors, journalists,
lawyers, and many fine figure-heads of elderly magnates;
each and all knew me as an early book friend, and I
had quite to hold a court for two hours, receiving
each as introduced, and having to say something pretty
to him. Mr. Weld (of Lulworth), married to a
rich Baltimorean, takes to me monstrously, and with
Mr. President Gilman is going to manage a Reading
here for me on my return from the South. He took
me after the great event to the Maryland Club (making
me a member for a month), and we had a glass of wine
together, meeting again several of the bigwigs migrated
like ourselves for something better than iced-water!