FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



another trip during the Comstock regime that should be men- 

 tioned. 



One day Professor Comstock came to me and said that he 

 had just met an interesting travelHng EngHshman, who was 

 apparently a man of wealth and who was going south by way 

 of New Orleans to Mexico. He was writing a book on his travels 

 and needed a secretary for an hour or two every evening. 

 Comstock recommended me for the job, and I went that night 

 to Welcker's Hotel, where I found the English traveller. He 

 was a man in the late fifties, rather short, with a bushy beard, 

 and I saw at once that he was a character entirely new to my 

 experience. He began to dictate to me his experiences in Canada. 

 It was in the early spring, and he had just come from Montreal, 

 where he had seen the ice carnival, about which he was very 

 enthusiastic. After dictation he invited me to dine with him. 

 He was a good diner — knew good things, and liked them. 



For some days we followed the same program. He spent his 

 days going about the city, visiting Congress and the museums 

 and other public institutions. He was a chatty man, and occa- 

 sionally picked up some American and invited him to dine with 

 us (I dined with him every day). I remember that one day 

 he had invited a curious old German professor, an ethnologist, 

 who was connected with the Smithsonian Institution. When 

 the man appeared at the hotel his polite opening remark was 



"So, Mr. , you are an Englishman. Do you know I consider 



your Queen a very ordinary old woman?" The Englishman's 

 tact was quite sufficient, and the incident passed o£F pleasandy 

 enough, but I have often wondered what would have happened 

 had the host been a less tactful man. 



At the end of a week or so Mr. asked me whether I 



would go to New Orleans with him. It so happened that com- 

 plaints had been received at the Department of much damage 



[40] 



