34 Reminiscences of 



I established my residence in Boston for a series 

 of years, though I made five round trips to Cali- 

 fornia before 1860, and have since made those jour- 

 neys over a score of times, besides eighteen round 

 trips across the Atlantic to Europe. I crossed the 

 great plains from the Missouri River to the Rocky 

 Mountains four times from 1865 to 1867, before the 

 completion of a railroad there. 



After my return from California I found a great 

 difficulty in reconciling myself to the quiet of town 

 life, however much the necessity existed for appli- 

 cation to business pursuits, as my inclinations were 

 strongly for adventurous ramblings. Always a con- 

 stant reader, I found quite perceptibly to myself that 

 my tendency was directed largely to the perusal of 

 sporting articles, which conflicted with my resolutions 

 to follow business affairs. This determined me to 

 give up entirely the perusal of books treating of 

 sporting and adventurous affairs, which inflamed my 

 imagination with longings, and for several years I 

 adhered strictly to this resolution. 



From Boston I made frequent winter trips for 

 pickerel fishing through the ice at favorite New Eng- 

 land ponds, a sport which I enjoyed very much for 

 a change, for, although the fishing was somewhat tame, 

 the auxiliaries of the skating, tramping, and lunching 

 by the open fires at the pond sides gave a pleasant 

 relaxation. During the summers I gave much of my 

 time to brook fishing in the White Mountain regions, 

 where I felt that I acquired a dexterity in trans- 

 ferring the brook-trout to my creel, after scoring from 

 three to five hundred in a day's fishing. 



I am almost ashamed to relate what I would now 



