Elizabeth Cady Stanton Speeches and Writings File Reminiscences, Chapters 11-12 Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter XI. 76-82. There were busy happy years of varied interests and employments public and private. Sons and daughters graduating from college bringing troops of young friends to visit us. The usual matrimonial entanglements, [engagements] with all their promises of celestial bliss intertwined with earthly doubts and fears, weddings, voyages to Europe, 2 business ventures; all on the alert to do something. In this whirl of plans and projects our heads and hearts and hands were fully occupied. Seven boys and girls dancing round the fireside, buoyant with all life's joys opening before them, are enough to keep the most apathetic parents on the watch towers by day, and anxious even in dreamland by night. Yet with our experiences, in ordinary life, we all hesitate to dispell the visions of youth with our knowledge of its pitfalls and disappointments. All my spare time, if it can be said that I ever had any, 3 was given these days to social festivities. The inevitable dinners, teas, picnics, and dances, with country neighbors, all came round in quick succession. We lived at this time in the blue hills of Jersey not far from the publisher of The Sun, Issac England, who also had seven boys and girls as full of frolic as my own. Mrs. England entered into all their games with as much zest as I did myself. The youngsters thought half the fun was to see our enthusiasm in "blind man's bluff," "fox and geese" "bean bags," and "have you seen the muffin man"? It thrills me with delight even now 4 1/2 [to see these games.] In addition to all the domestic cares a large family involved, Mrs. Gage Miss Anthony, and myself were already busy collecting and preparing material for our History of Woman Suffrage. This involved no end of correspondence. Then my lecturing trips were still a part of the annual programme. Washington conventions, too, with calls, appeals, resolutions, speeches, hearings before Committees of the Senate and House and State Legislatures, all this came round in the years proceedings as regularly as [*4, 13*] ******Transcription note, this page was scanned in the wrong order, should be after page 3.********* to see these games. Mr. England was the soul of hospitality. He was never more happy than when his house was crowded with guests, and his larder with all the delicacies of the season. Though he and Mr. Stanton were alike connected with that dignified Journal, The New York Sun, yet they often joined in the general hilarities. I laugh as I write at the memory all the frolics we had on the Blue hills of Jersey. 5 pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving; plum pudding for Christmas & patriotism for Washington's birthday. Those who speak for glory [a] or philanthropy are always in demand for college commencements, & [4th] Fourth of July orations, hence much of Miss Anthony's eloquence as well as my own, was utilized in this way. With all this, dear reader, you may know, that we were never found working worsted cuts on the toes of clergymen's slippers, simply to spend time. 6 On the 18th day of October 1880, I [had] had an impromptu dinner party; Elizabeth Boynton Hurbert, May W[right]right Thompson (now Sewall) Phebe Couzins, & Amathusia Forbes returning from a Boston convention, all by chance met under my roof. We had a very merry time talking over the incidents of the convention, Boston proprieties, & the general situation. X (over) My great grief that day was that some men were busy putting in a new range & we had made no preparations for y Giving them many early reminiscences, they asked if I had kept a diary. No I said not a pen scratch of the past except what might be gathered from many family letters. They urged me to begin a diary at once so I promised I would on my coming birthday. 7 dinner. This completely upset Saint Amelia the presiding genius of my culinary department, as she could not grow us the bounteous feast she knew was expected on such occasions. The grocer and, butcher were diliatory in their minds that day; the milk man's horse ran away, and upset all the cream. Amelia had not yet learned the effect of the dampers in decreasing or increasing the heat in the new range consequently dinner was late and meagre. With every hour's delay the 8 the appetites of my guests increased, and the inadequate supply of the viands when they did appear were proportionally smaller. Three times with a sorrowful visage Amelia summoned me to the kitchen to say she could not make the range burn. At last I said take the coal all out and make a wood fire and if you burn up all the kindling in the cellar, no matter so that you give us some dinner. At last as all things come to those who wait, dinner was announced. As usual 9 when there was any lack in the viands, I tried to be as brilliant as possible in conversation, discussing Nirvana, Karma, reincarnation and thus turning attention from the [effenescent] evanescent thing's of earth to the joys of a life to come. Not an easy feat to perform with strong minded women but in parting they seemed happy and refreshed and all promised to come again. But we shall never meet there again, as the old familiar [marks], the majestic chestnut trees, have passed into other hands. 10 Strange lovers now whisper their vows of faith [&] and trust, under the same tree, where the most charming wedding ceremony I ever saw was solemnized one bright October day. All nature seemed to do her utmost to heighten the beauty of the occasion. The verdure was brilliant with autumnal tints, the hazy noon day sun lent a peculiar softness to every shadow, even the birds [&] and insects were hushed to silence [as two stately ushers followed by a long line with a dozen Vassar classmates, each in a different colored silk, followed by the] 11 As the wedding march rose soft [&] and clear, two stately ushers led the way, then a group of Vassar classmates gaily decked in varied colored silks, followed by the bride [&] and groom, an immense Newfoundland dog of his own account brought up the rear, keeping time with measured tread. He took his seat in full view [intently] watching alternately the officiating clergyman, the bride [&] and groom, [&] and guests as if to say, what does all this mean? 12 No one behaved with more propriety fitting the occasion [&] and no one looked more radiant than he with a ray of sunlight on his beautiful brown coat of long silken hair, his bright brass collar, & his wonderful head. Bruno did not live to see the [did] old home broken up, but sleeps peacefully there still, under the old chestnut trees [&] and fills a large place in many of our pleasant memories of the past. 13 November 12th 1880. I am sixty five years old & and according to promise I now begin my diary. A bright sunny day, but the frost King has been at work; all my grand old trees that stand like sentinels to mark the boundary of my domain are stripped of their foliage, [&] and the brilliant colors of a few weeks ago, have faded into a uniform brown, but the evergreens, [these] and the tall prim cedars hold their own, [&] and when covered with snow their exquisite beauty will bring tears to my eyes. 14 One need never be lonely mid beautiful trees. Saint Amelia [&] and I are much alone these days. Our male protectors are all in town for the winter. [Mrs Gage Miss Anthony & I are to fill the home with documents & work diligently on the great History.] My thoughts to day are much with my children, Hattie in France; Theodore in Germany; Maggie with her husband [&] and brother Gerrit, half way across the continent; Robert still in college. I spend the day writing letters walking up and down the 15 piazza [&] and enjoyed from my window a glorious sunset. Alone on birthdays or Holidays one is very apt to indulge in sad retrospections. The thoughts of how much more I might have done for the perfect development of my children, than I had accomplished depressed me. I thought of all the blunders in my own life and in their education. Little had been said of the responsibilities of prenatal life, accordingly little or nothing had been done. I had such visions of parental duties that day that I came to the conclusion that parents never could pay the debt they owe their children for 16 bringing them into this world of suffering, unless they can insure them sound minds in sound bodies, [&] and enough of the good things of this life to enable them to live without one long anxious struggle for the bare necessities of existence. I have no sympathy with the old idea, that children owe parents such a debt of gratitude, for the simple fact of existence generally conferred without thought [&] and merely for their own pleasure. How seldom we hear of any high or holy preparations for the office of parenthood. Here in the most momentous 17 act of life all is left to chance. Alas! how little thought there is on this all important question. Men [&] and women, intelligent [&] and prudent in all other directions seem to exercise no ordinary forethought here, but hand down their individual [&] and family idiosyncracies in the most reckless manner. These reflections [&] and many more I find recorded in my diary. November 13. [I find in] The New York Tribune this morning announces the death of Lucretia Mott, 88 years old. Having known her in the flush of life when all her faculties were at their zenith, [&] and in the repose of 18 age when her powers begin to wane; her withdrawal from our midst seems [i] as beautiful [&] and natural as the changing foliage from summer to autumn of some grand oak tree I have watched [&] and loved / The tolling bells announce another Sunday, a gloomy sound to me, recalling the old Scotch Presbyterian church, of my childhood, the long sermons, the catechism, the doleful psalms, [&] and doctrines taught. I prefer now to remain at home [&] and read or walk in the sunshine; to the little stone church [&] and an essay by a young prig from 19 [from] Princeton. He called to see me a few days since. He told me he had studied for a physician [&] and practiced one year but he felt the responsibility of human life so great, that he entered the ministry. Do you think the responsibility of [g] training a mind to some religious faith is less so? To make a person happy or miserable through life, said I, seems a graver charge than life itself. He made no answer Perhaps I had suggested to him a new idea as to the immense responsibility of his profession. |P November 10 [?] says I am sorely tried with my 20 clocks. I have three that run a week [,] but as they choose different days for stopping I forget to attend to any one in season, [&] and when wound up they strike wrong, [&] and that involves time and thought to get them straight again, [&] and by the time I get them all going as they should [the] another week has passed, [&] and the same experiments are to be repeated. The new stove called "Perfection" is another scourge of much domestic infelicity. It has all the necessary conveniences, large oven, boiler, six holes for cooking but the place for the coal is so small, that the oven seldom rises 21 to summer heat [&] and the water tank is so far from the fire that one might as well heat water in the sun. The hardware merchant told me yesterday that my purchase had enable him to sell that pattern off like hot cakes. Alas! said I, there will soon be a lull in the market; its name is a delusion. For weeks [long processions of my neighbors who believed in my] ever [&] and anon some sorrowful sister came slowly up the hill to see how my stove worked [&] and to inquire if all the merchant said of our satisfaction was true. We consoled with 22 each other [&] and looked hopefully into the future when a new stove would be an imperative necessity. If there is a Providence who takes note of every sparrow that falls to the ground, I wish there might be one to set a warning mark on the forehead of every man who palms off such useless inventions on a long-suffering community. Moral: Make it a condition when you buy a stove that you may try it a week [&] and return it if you do not like it, [&] and do not pay for it until you have tried it. "Perfection" cost me forty dollars, with her outfit of boilers, pots, [&] and pans, [&] and a wear [&] and tear of spirit that cannot 23 be estimated. Nov 20th The arrival of Miss Anthony [&] and Mrs. Gage will now banish all domestic complications from view. What planning now of volumus, chapters, footnotes margins, appendix, paper [&] and print, of engravings, title, [P]preface, [&] and [I]introduction. I had never thought that the publication of a book required the consideration of such endless details. We already stand appalled before the mass of material growing higher [&] and higher with every incoming mail, 24 [&] and the thought of all the reading involved, makes us feel as if our life work lay before us. Six weeks of steady work from morning until night [&] and often until midnight, made no visible decrease in the pile of documents. However before the end of the month we had our arrangements all made with publishers [&] and engravers, [&] and six chapters in printer. When we began to correct proof we felt as if something was accomplished Ed The Woman's Tribune 1406 G. Street N.W. Washington D.C. U.S.A. Mrs. Clara B. Colby Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton No XII England & France Copyrighted 1889. After taking a hasty view of the wonders & surroundings of London, we spent a month in Paris. I should attempt no description of what I saw, because the old world has been minutely described by travellers ad nauseam, & because Americans now go to Europe by the thousands, every year & see for 2 themselves, & many gifted pens still indulge in elaborate descriptions. Moreover the majority of our people, who can afford to travel, know more about foreign lands, than their own country. I have met many Americans in Europe, who had never taken that magnificent trip across the Rocky mountains, nor seen the Yosemite valley, the Guysers, & the giant groves of California, nor the national yellow stone park in Montana 2 1/2 [Many gifted pens still indulge in elaborate descriptions themselves & write their friends all about them [In fact] Moreover the majority of our people who can afford to travel know more about foreign lands than their own country.] Forty years ago there was a greater difference in the general appearance of things between France & England than now. That countries only two hours apart should differ so widely was to us a great surprize. There was one point, however in [passing] crossing the channel that proved the [channel] 3 [that proved] the kinship of all nations. They were alike in their outward manifestations of seasickness, alike for the time being, losing all earthly ambition, their hopes of heaven, & fears of hell, & presenting the same lackadaisical appearance, while calling forth no emotions of pity, or tenderness from the casual observer, who might have chanced to escape the epidemic That is one of the peculiar conditions of this affliction, as poor mortals are compelled one by one to pay tribute 4 to old ocean & retire from view. the more fortunate mock at their calamity - & laugh when their fears cometh. As I was never under any circumstances, obliged to succumb to such humiliating conditions, I have always thought, that people in good health, of abstemious habits, who would face a stiff breeze on deck most of the time, with a due exercise of will power, could escape altogether. But as most people are invalids & accept disease as part of the eternal plan, believing that "the good father loveth whom he chasteneth," they accept what comes with pious resignation 5 curl up in there berths, & eat everything that offers. Two or three hours brought us to sunny France. How changed the sights & sounds. Here is the old Diligence lumbering along with its various compartments, its indefinite number of horses, held together with an improvised harness of ropes & leather, some two, some three abreast, & sometimes are in advance with an outrider belaboring the poor beast without cessation the driver yelling & cracking 6 his whip; the uproar confusion & squabbles at every stopping place, when the upper classes men & women alike rush into each others arms, embrace, & kiss while drivers, hostlers in the slightest provocation hurl at each other all the denunciatory adjectives in the language, & with such vehemence, that you expect every moment to see the blood fly, in deadly conflict. But today as forty years ago, they never arrive at this point. Theirs was & is purely an encounter of 7 words, which they keep up as they drive off in opposite directions, just as far as they can hear & see each other, with threats of vengence to come. Such an encounter between two Englishmen, would be the death of one, or the other. All this was in marked contrast with John Bull & his island There the people were as silent as if they had all been born deaf & dumb, the English stage coach was compact, clean & whihed from top to bottom, 8 the horses & harness glossy & in order, the well draped dignified coachman, who seldom spoke a loud word nor used his whip, kept his seat at the various halts while hostlers watered or changed his steeds, the postman blue his bugle blast to have the mail in readiness, the reserved passengers made no remarks on what was passing, for in those days, Englishmen were afraid to speak to each other, for fear of recognizing one not of their class & much more of strangers & foreigners, to them they would not speak 9 except in a case of dire necessity. The Frenchman was ready enough to talk, but unfortunately we were separated by different languages. Thus the Englishman would not talk, the Frenchmen could not , & the intelligent loquacious American driver, who discourses on politics, religion, national institutions & social gossip, was unknown on that side of the Atlantic. What the curious American traveller could find out himself, from observation 10 & pertinacious seeking he was welcome to, but the Briton would waste no breath to enlighten Yankees as to the points of interest or customs of his country. However they are not so much afraid of outside barbarians now, since steamers railroads, & ocean cables have brought the nations of the earth together. Our party consisted of Miss Pugh Abby Kimber, Mr Stanton & myself, I had many 11 amusing experiences in making my wants known when alone. For instance travelling night & day in the Diligence to Paris, as the stops were short one was sometimes in need of something to eat. One night as my companions were all asleep, I went out to get a piece of cake, or a cracker, whatever of that sort I could obtain but as I could not think of the French word for either, I explained by asking for a kind of sweet bread. Just as the Diligence was about to 12 start, & the shout for us to get aboard was heard, the waiter came running with a piping hot plate of sweet bread nicely fried. I had waited & wondered why it took so long to get me a simple peice of cake or biscuit & lo! a peice of hot meat was offered me. I could not take the frizzling thing in my hand, nor eat it without bread, knife & fork, so I hurried off to the coach, the man pursuing me to the very door plate & all, with vehement denunciations, 13 I was vexed & disappointed, while the rest of the party were convulsed with laughter, at the parting salute, & my attempt to make my way alone It was sometime before I heard the last of the "sweet bread". When we reached Paris we secured a guide who could speak English, to show us the sights of that wonderful city. Every morning early he was at the door rain or shine, with a carriage to carry out our plans, which with Gallignani's guide book 14 we had made the evening before. In this way, going steadily from day to day. We visited all points of interest for miles round & sailing up & down the Seine. We went through the manufactories of carpets, rugs goblin[s] tapestry papier marche Severes china, silk & lace, shoes & gloves & through the most noted millinery & dry goods establishments. We went to Versailles St Cloud St Dennis The Chamber of Deputies, Notre Dame, & several 15 other cathedrals. The palace of Tuliries with its many associations, with a long line of more or less unhappy Kings & Queens was then in its glory, & its extensive & beautiful grounds were always gay with crowds of happy people. There gardens were a great resort for nurses & children, with all manner of novel appliances for their amusement. Beautiful little carriages draw by four goats, with girls or boys driving, boats sailing in the air seemingly propelled 16 by oars & hobby horses flying round in whirly gigs with boys vainly trying to catch each other. No people have ever taken the trouble to mind so many amusements for children as the French. The [grown up] people [too seem] [to] enjoy being always in open air, night & day the parks are crowded, some reading, & playing games, some sewing knitting, playing on musical instruments, dancing, sitting round tables in [?] eating, drinking & gaily chatting, And yet when they drive in carriage 17 or go to their homes at night they will shut themselves in, as tight as an oyster in a shell. They have a theory that night air is very injurious; in the house: although they will sit outside until midnight. I found this same superstition when in France two years ago We were much interested in visiting the Hotel des Invalids, the home of Napoleon's old soldiers. They were just then making great preparations to receive the remains of their famous General 18 on their way from St Helena. In a mausoleum under the dome of that building where his faithful followers spent their declining [last] years. the mighty Napoleon found his last resting place. The ladies of our party chatted freely with the old soldiers, who all had interesting anecdotes to relate of their chief. They said he seldom slept over four hours was an abstemious eater; rarely changed a servant as he hated a strange face about him, he was very fond of a game of chess, & snuffed continuously. Talked but little, was a light sleeper, the stirring of a mouse would waken him. 19 in fact waking or sleeping he seemed to be always on the watch tower. They said in his great campaigns, he seemed to be omnipresent, A sentinel asleep at his post, would sometimes waken to find Napoleon on duty in his place. In taking the rounds, Miss Pugh amused us, by reading aloud the description of what we were admiring, & the historical events connected with that particular building or locality. We urged her to spend the time, taking in all she could see & [to] read up afterwards but no, a history of France, & Galagnani[e]s guide she 20 she carried everywhere, & while the rest[ect] of us looked until we were fully satisfied, she took a birds eye view, & read the description. Dear little woman! She was a fine scholar, a good historian & was well informed on all subjects, & countries, & proved an invaluable travelling companion, & could tell more of what we saw, than all the rest of us together. On several occasions we chanced to meet Louis Phillipe dashing by in an open barouche, 21 We felt great satisfaction in remembering, that at one time he was an exile in our country, & earned his living by teaching school. What an honor for our [little] Yankee children to have been taught the rudiments of [learning] his language by a French King! Having been accustomed to the Puritan Sunday of restraint & solemnity, I found that day in Paris gay & charming. The first time I entered into some of the festivities, I really expected to be struck with lightning. 22. The libraries, art galleries. concert halls & theaters were all open to the people. Bands of music were playing in the parks where whole families with their luncheons spent the day. Husbands wives & children on excursions together. The boats in the Seine, & all public conveyances were crowded. Those who had but this one day for pleasure, seemed determined to make the most of it. A wonderful contrast with that gloomy day in London where 23 all places of amusement were closed, & nothing open to the public, but the churches & drinking saloons. Streets & houses where Voltaire, La Fayette, Madame de Stael Roland Charlotte Corday & other famous men & women had lived & died, were pointed out to us We little thought then, of all the terrible scenes to be enacted in Paris, nor that France would emerge from the dangers that beset her on every side into a sister Republic. It has been a wonderful 24 achievement, with Kings & Popes all plotting against her [success] experiment, that she has succeeded in putting kingcraft & priestcraft under her feet & proclaimed, Liberty Equality, Fraternity for her people. After a [month] few weeks in France, we returned [to England] to London travelling through England Ireland & Scotland for several months. We visited the scenes that Shakespeare, Burns, Scott, Rutner, James & Dickens with their brilliant imaginations had made classic. 25 Huntingdon We spent a few days at the home of Oliver Cromwell & visited the estate where he was born & drove about among the familiar scenes where he passed his early married life. While there one of his great admirers read aloud to us a splendid article in one of the Reviews written by Carlyle, giving "The "Protector," as his friend said, his true place in History. It was long the fashion for English historians to represent Cromwell as a fanatic & hypocrite, but his character was vindicated by later writers. "Never, says 26 Macaulay, was a ruler so conspicuously born for sovereignty. The cup which has intoxicated almost all others sobered him" We saw the picturesque ruins of Kenilworth castle, the birthplace of Shakspeare, the homes of Byron & Mary Chaworth, wandered through Newstead Abby, saw the monument to his faithful dog, & the large dining room where Byron [he] & his boon companions, used to shoot at a mark. It was a desolate region of country. Mr. Stanton & I walked twelve miles 27 that day from Robin Hood's barn in taking a circuit through which no public conveyances were found. We stopped a day or two at Ayr, & drove out to Burns birthplace. The old house that had sheltered him was still there, but its walls now echoed to other voices, & the fields where he had toiled, are ploughed by other hands We saw the streams & banks where he & Mary sat together, the old stone church where the witches held their midnight [dances] revels, the two dogs, & the bridge of Ayr. With Burns as with Sappho, it was 28 love that awoke his heart to song. A bonny lass who worked with him in the harvest field, inspired his first attempts at rhyme. Life with Burns was one long harsh struggle. With his natural love of the beautiful & high ambition, the terrible depression of spirits he suffered, in his dreary surroundings, was inevitable The interest great men took in him, when they awoke to his genius came too late for his safety & encouragement. In a glass of whisky he found at last the rest & heaven, he never 29 knew when sober. Poverty & hard labor are the parents of intemperance, & that vice will never be suppressed until the burdens of life are equally shared by all. We saw Melrose by moonlight, & spent several hours at Abbotsford & lingered in the little sanctum sanctorum, where Scott is said to have written his immortal works. It was so small, he could reach his books on every side. [We sailed across the beautiful Lochs Katrine & Lomond & climbed to the top of Ben Venn ] 30 We went through the [old] prisons castles & narrow streets of old Edinboro, where the houses are seven & eight stories high, each story projecting a few feet until opposite neighbors could easily shake hands, & chat together on the top All the intervals from active sight seeing we spent in reading the lives of historical personages in poetry & prose, until our sympathies flowed out to the real & ideal characters in one conglomerate mass. Lady Jane Grey, Anne Bullen, Mary Queen of Scots, Ellen 31 Douglass, Jennie & Effie Deanes, Highland Mary, Rebecca the Jewess Di Vernon & Rob Roy all alike seemed real men & women whose shades or descendents we hoped to meet on their native heath. Here among the Scotch lakes & mountains Mr Stanton & I were travelling alone for the first time since our marriage, & as we both enjoyed walking we made many excursions on foot 32 to [many] points that could not be reached in any other way. We spent some time among the Grampian hills :so familiar to every school boy; walking, & riding about on donkeys, we sailed up & down Loch Katrine & Loch Lomond, & climbed to the top of the towering Ben Lomond 3362 feet high the loftiest of the Grampian hills [Mr. Stanton] My husband was writing letters for some New York papers on our entire trip, & aimed to get exact knowledge of all we saw. Thus I had the advantage of the information he gathered. On these long tramps I wore a short dress just below 32 1/2 the knee, of dark blue cloth a military cap of the same that shaded my eyes & a pair of long boots made in the masculine pattern then generally worn, the most easy style of boot for walking as the pressure is equal on the whole foot & the ankle has free play. Thus equipped & early trained by my good brother to my walks. I found no difficulty in keeping pace with my husband. 33 Being alike self reliant & venturesome in our explorations we occasionally found ourselves involved in grave difficulties, by refusing to take a guide For instance we decided to go to the top of Ben Lomond alone It looked to us a straight forward piece of business, to walk up a mountain on a bee line & so in the face of repeated warnings by our host we started We knew nothing of the zig zag paths to avoid the rocks, the springs & swamps, in fact we supposed all mountains smooth & dry as our native hills, 34 that we were accustomed to climb. The landlord smiled when we told him we should return at noon to dinner & we smiled too, thinking he placed a low estimate on our capacity for walking But we had not gone far when we discovered the difficulties ahead Some places were so steep that I had to hold on [Mr. Stantons] my companion's coat tails while he held on to the rocks & twigs, or braced himself with a heavy cane. By the time we were half way up we were in a dripping perspiration, our 35 feel soaking wet & we were really too tired to proceed But after starting with such supreme confidence in ourselves we were ashamed to confess our fatigue to each other, & much more to return, & verify all the prognostications of the host & his guides. So we determined to push on & do what we had proposed. With the prospect of a magnificent view, & an hours delicious rest on the top, after sitting awhile we should with renewed courage. [After] A steady climb of six 36 [of six hours] hours brought us to the goal of promise: our ascent was accomplished. But alas! it was impossible to rest there. The cold wind chilled us to the bone in a minute. So we took one hasty view of the world below & hastened down the south side, to get the mountain between us & the cold north easter. As soon as we could find a shelter, we sat down & laughed at the failure of our expectation. When your teeth are chattering with the cold, & the wind threatening to make havoc of your raiment 37. one is not in a favorable condition to appreciate grand scenery. Like the king of France with twice ten thousand men, we marched up the hill, & then marched down again. We found descending still more difficult, as we were in constant fear of slipping, [&] losing our foot hold, & rolling to the bottom. We were tired, hungry, & disappointed, & with nothing in prospect, the fear of not reaching the valley before night fall pressed heavily on us. [But] Neither confessed 38. to the other, the fatigue & apprehension each felt, but with fresh endeavor & words of encouragement we cautiously pushed on. We accidentally struck a trail that lead us winding down comfortably some distance, but we lost it, & went clambering down as well as well as we could in our usual way. To add to our misery, a dense Scotch mist soon enveloped us, so that we could see but a short distance ahead, & not knowing the point from which we started we feared we might be going far out of our way. The 39 coming twilight too, made the prospect still darker. Fortunately our host had less faith in us, than we started with in ourselves, & sent a guide to reconnoiter, & just at the moment when we began to realize our danger of spending the night on the mountain, & to admit it to each other; with broad scotch accent, the welcome guide hailed us. His shepperd dog led the way into the beaten path. As I could hardly stand I took [his] the guide's hand & when we reached the bottom, two donkeys were in readiness, 40 to take us to the Hotel. We did not recover the fatigue of that expedition in several days, & we made no more experiments of exploring strange places without guides. We learned too that mountains are not so hospitable as they seem nor so gently undulating as they appear in the distance, & that guides serve other purposes beside extorting money from travellers. If under their guidance we had gone up & down easily, we should always have thought we 41 might as well have gone alone . So our experience gave us a good lesson in humility. We had been twelve hours on foot with nothing to eat. when at last we reached the hotel. We were in no mood for boasting of the success of our excursion and our answers were short to inquiries as to how we had passed the day. Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.