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. I 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- 



