eT 
Rae) et RSTO hw 
IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 95 
down the mountains in the afternoon, clouding 
first Mount Washington and then Mount Pleas- 
ant behind me, and shutting me indoors all the 
next day, had started an hour sooner, or if I had 
been detained an hour later, it is not impossi- 
ble that I might now be writing in a different 
strain. 
My reception at the top was none of the 
heartiest. The hotel was tightly closed, while 
a large snow-bank stood guard before the door. 
However, I invited myself into the Signal Ser- 
vice Station, and made my wants known to one 
of the officers, who very kindly spread a table 
with such things as he and his companions had 
just been eating. It would be out of place to 
say much about the luncheon: the bread and 
butter were good, and the pudding was interest- 
ing. [had the cook’s word for it that the lat- 
ter was made of corn-starch, but he volunteered 
no explanation of its color, which was nearly 
that of chocolate. As a working hypothesis I 
adopted the molasses or brown-sugar theory, but 
a brief experiment (as brief as politeness per- 
mitted) indicated a total absence of any saccha- 
rine principle. But then, what do we climb 
mountains for, if not to see something out of 
the common course? On the whole, if this de- 
partment of our national government is ever on 
trial for extravagance in the matter of high liv- 
