108 MY LIFE 



As Mr. Browne's occupation was to summarize all the 

 evening papers for the morning's issue, his work was from 



[night till four in the morning. Then all the forenoon he 

 had to do the same thing with the morning papers for the 

 evening issue, getting his sleep in the early morning and after- 

 noon. ( >ne day lu- got free in order to take me nj> the Hudson 

 river as far as West Point, passing the celebrated " Palisades " 

 — a continuous row of cliffs about two hundred feet high, and 

 extending for nearly twenty miles on the south bank of the 

 river. They look exactly like a huge fence of enormous split 

 trees, placed vertically, side by side, but are really basaltic 

 columns like those at the Giant's Causeway, crowning a slope 

 of fallen rock. In places the well-wooded country was very 

 beautiful, with the autumnal tints of bright red, purple and 

 yellow, though we 'were a little late to see them in perfection. 

 Where we landed, I was delighted to see wild vines clambering 

 over the trees, as well as the Virginia creeper, and there were 

 also sumachs and other characteristic American plants. The 

 situation of the great American Military College is splendid, 

 on an elevated promontory in a bend of the Hudson, sur- 

 rounded by rugged wooded hills, and with magnificent views 

 up and down the river. 



On the 28th I went to Boston to be ready for my first 

 lecture on November 1. I had been recommended by Mr. 

 J. G. Wood to go to the Quincy House, as being moderate in 

 charges, and celebrated for its excellent table. I stayed there 

 nearly two months, and was, on the whole, very comfortable ; 

 but it was essentially a business man's hotel, and I made no 

 interesting acquaintances there. My scientific friends told me 

 I ought to have gone to a better hotel, but as these were all 

 four or five dollars a day, with no better accommodation than 

 I had at three dollars, I did not care to change. As I never 

 had better meals at any hotel I stayed at in America (except, 

 perhaps, in San Francisco), I may quote my description of 

 them in a letter to my daughter while they were new to me. 

 " You ought to see the meals at this hotel ! The bill of fare at 

 dinner (1 to 3 o'clock) has generally two kinds of soup, two 

 of fish, about twenty to thirty different dishes of meat, poultry, 



