66 CAMPING WITH THE PRESIDENT 



force. Huge mounds of ice had formed from the con- 

 gealed vapor all around it, some of them very striking. 



The novelty of the geyser region soon wears off. 

 Steam and hot water are steam and hot water the 

 world over, and the exhibition of them here did not 

 differ, except in volume, from what one sees by his 

 own fireside. The " Growler " is only a boiling tea- 

 kettle on a large scale, and " Old Faithful " is as if the 

 lid were to fly off, and the whole contents of the kettle 

 should be thrown high into the air. To be sure, boiling 

 lakes and steaming rivers are not common, but the 

 new features seemed, somehow, out of place, and as 

 if nature had made a mistake. One disliked to see so 

 much good steam and hot water going to waste ; whole 

 towns might be warmed by them, and big wheels made 

 to go round. I wondered that they had not piped them 

 into the big hotels which they opened for us, and which 

 were warmed by wood fires. 



At Norris's the big room that the President and 

 I occupied was on the ground floor, and was heated 

 by a huge box stove. As we entered it to go to bed, 

 the President said, "Oom John, don't you think it 

 is too hot here ? " 



" I certainly do," I replied. 



"Shall I open the window?" 



"That will just suit me." And he threw the sash, 

 which came down to the floor, all the way up, making 

 an opening like a doorway. The night was cold, but 

 neither of us suffered from the abundance of fresh 

 air. The caretaker of the building was a big Swede 

 called Andy. In the morning Andy said that beat 

 him: "There was the President of the United States 

 sleeping in that room, with the window open to the 



