STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 181 



Professor Johnson wrote home with great regular- 

 ity during the four months of his absence, in spite of 

 neuritis, then called "writer's cramp." His first 

 letter tells of pleasant acquaintances made on ship- 

 board : 



Cunard steamer Parthia at sea, about 200 miles 



from Queenstown, Jan. 14, 1876. 



Dear wife, I am near the end of the ocean passage and for 

 the first time on the voyage sit down to write a letter. . . . 



We carry but some 25 cabin passengers and there is plenty 

 of room, good ventilation, excellent attendance and general 

 sociability. The Captain and officers are pleasant men, the 

 sailors are jolly and tarry (tar-y), and the passengers are 

 mostly good fellows and appear to be very well met. Most 

 of the latter are business men. Two from California and 

 Nevada, two from Cape Colony, six from Canada and the 

 rest from the "States." Pleasant people are Mr. and Mrs. 

 W. H. F. of New York, going with two children to south of 

 France and Italy. Mr. F. is a brother of M. F., w r ho wrote 

 a pleasant book of Recollections of Distinguished People, or 

 something of that sort, which I read in the Club not long 

 since. Mamie F. is a solid damsel of ten years, who takes her 

 rations even worse than I do, and manifests an amount of 

 bodily energy quite astonishing. Willie F. is a six year old, 

 I should judge, and he and I are both very fond of bear 

 stories. His bears always swallow a small boy and then burst. 

 Well, now I must stop and walk deck for an hour or so, for 

 the heat rises in this poor head of mine and the cold goes down 

 my boot-legs to the toes, and that is a warning not to be 

 slighted. . . . 



The dose of fresh air which I have had since leaving home 

 is something big. . . . The smoking room on the top deck is 

 the scene of most hilarity. With three exceptions all the male 

 adult passengers smoke and drink. The smoking room just 

 accommodates us all, and whist, "Hot Scotch" (a drink), 



