Washington Sunday April 22 1883
Dear pater,
A blessed
rain is soaking the roots
of trees & grass today &
to-
morrow will pelt gaily
on your head. Magnolia
japonica & forsythia make
a fine show opposite our
windows & the rides are
getting better every day.
Shall soon let the fire
go out under my 5 o'clk
tea kettle & say "Good
bye proud world- I'm
going away from home."
Last Sunday we had to
dinner, Mr & Mrs Eisen-
decker, Dr & Mrs
Loring,
taking advantage of Alex
Agassiz's being here, as he
likes the Commissioner of
Agriculture, & Miss Bayard
was very pleasant & Mrs
Loring the second & new wife
who is a fine musician
gave us some good music.
Monday before breakfast
we Alex & I rather
went over Anderson's new
house, it does Richardson
great credit, if we had
thirty thousand a year
it would suit us to
a T. Alex is anxious
to buy a lot here & have
R build him a really
simple cheap house,
& I believe he can do it
Such clients as F. L. Hig
& Anderson are not edu
cated as to what is
ultimate, don't know
their own minds, tho the proportions are not
excessive in either case
& being highly irritable
they take out their temper
in railing at H. H. R who
sets many temptations be-
fore them as its his business
to. Dorsheimer & Ned have
found it possible to
curb his extravagance
though. Monday, Aristarchi
Bey dined here quietly
& Marsh came in eveg.
Tuesday Agassiz moved to
Justice Gray's, Mr Pumpelly
to tea & stayed on to dine
was charming as ever. His
account of the Great North
west on the line of the
Northern Pacific is like
a fairy tale, the line
at this end is finished
as far as Bozeman, nearwhich he has found a
great coal field on a
mountain. Myriads
of first class emigrants
are crowding up from
California, Germans
& Swedes, he goes back
again this summer. Among
his staff of young scientific
men he is most enthu
siastic about a man
named Eldridge, a
Bostonian, whose mother
is or was a sister of Na-
than Matthews, who has
treated them ill in
some way. I've no desire
to go abroad again but
should like to go in a
director's car over that
line to the Pacific whenthe country is a little
more settled up & to
the west coast of Mexico
in winter when that
country is a little
more settled down.
Wednesday dined with the
John Field s, Alex, Weir Mitchell
Mrs Lawrence, Miss Clymer
& Sandy Bliss, had a nice
long chat with Dr Mitchell
after dinner, he is very
full of fun, always
comes in to tea now
when he is in town.
Thursday to bed early &
made Henry take my
regrets to a young dance
at Mrs Bancroft Davis
where my frisky husband
even danced. Friday
a dinner here, Mrs Lawrence
Mrs Cameron, Miss Dulaney Marsh, Pumpelly & H. James
the latter charmed with Mrs L
& Mrs C, whom he had never
met before. Yesterday some
Britons brought me a letter
from Sir John Clark, a young
son of the famous Lord Law-
rence late Indian Govr Genl
they came to tea & brought
Herbert of McCross, owner
of the lakes of Killarney. Law
rence & his young wife dine
here today, also H. James
& a Mr Richardson. Gurney's
friend J. R. Soley came to tea
yesterday. We thought him
attractive, never saw him
before, also Linzee Amory
just from Florida. Marsh
is much pleased at being chosen
Prest of the Academy. Pres
Arthur appeared to have over-eaten
himself in Savannah, as
Edmunds will succeed him
we should bear his taking off
with Pagan fortitude.
Adios Affy
M. A.