IN THE UNITED STATES -1838 -1875 379 



shown me through the beautiful artisan town which bears 

 his name; but by this remark my respect for him was 

 greatly augmented. 



My first visit to the upper Mississippi left an indelible 

 impression on my mind. No description of that vast 

 volume of water slowly moving before my eyes ever 

 seemed at all adequate until, years afterward, I read 

 Mark Twain s &quot;Tom Sawyer,&quot; and his account of the 

 scene when his hero awakes on a raft floating down the 

 great river struck a responsive chord in my heart. It 

 was the first description that ever answered at all to 

 the picture in my mind. Very interesting to me were 

 sundry later excursions to Boston, generally on univer 

 sity or other business. At one of these I purchased the 

 library of President Sparks for the university, and, stay 

 ing some days, had the pleasure of meeting many noted 

 men among them Mr. Josiah Quincy, whose reminis 

 cences were to me very interesting, his accounts of con 

 versations with John Adams perhaps more so than 

 anything else. At various clubs I met most charming 

 people, the most engrossing of these being Arthur Oilman, 

 the architect : then, and at other times, I sat up with him 

 late into the night, once, indeed, the entire night, lis 

 tening to his flow of quaint wit and humor. The range 

 of his powers was perhaps best shown in a repetition of 

 what he claimed to be the debate in the city council of 

 Boston on his plans for a new city hall, which were af 

 terward adopted. The speeches in Irish brogue, Teu 

 tonic jargon, and down-east Yankee dialect, with utter 

 ances interposed here and there by solemnly priggish 7 

 members, were inimitable. His pet antipathy seemed to 

 be the bishop of the diocese, Dr. Eastburn. Stories were 

 told to the effect that Oilman, early in life, had desired 

 to take orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, but 

 that the bishop refused to ordain him, on the ground 

 that he lacked the requisite discretion. Hence, perhaps, 

 his zeal in preaching what he claimed to be the bishop s 

 sermons. Dr. Eastburn was much given to amplification, 



