76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND 



Since that anniversary of mine in 1877, our " Spec- 

 tabile" Mr. Pierson of Troy, managed to induce us to 

 have another, in 1879, under the pretext that we ought 

 to have an opening ! on account of having built a new 

 greenhouse, and by doing so we should kill two birds 

 with one stone. We did it, and our cl ub association pre- 

 sented me again with a token of their friendship, in 

 presenting me, not a watch, but something as valuable, 

 if not more ; a sort of " pabulum animi ;" ' ' food for the 

 mind," the American, Appleton's Encyclopedia. Two 

 or three years later they presented me for the third time, 

 with a handsome set of crystal glasses, in all varieties, for 

 all kinds of wine and other liquors. I, of course^ 

 expressed my gratitude, but, I made the observation 

 that they had made a mistake; they ought to have 

 presented me with as many varieties of wine and liquors 

 as they had given me of different shape glasses ; that 

 we could drink good wine in ordinary glasses, if we 

 had anything to drink ; but we could not drink with- 

 out some liquid. "Well ! he said, always our promoter, 

 the " Spectdbile" we might have done so, but we did 

 not want to trust our tastes in such a delicate matter 

 as a choice of leverage. "We thought it would be bet- 

 ter to leave that to you, a man who had spent thirty 

 years of his life in the two best provinces of France, 

 producing wines, such as " Burgundy and Cham- 



