Second and Third Visits to England. 193 



ology with Huxley and she botany with Henslow, and 

 each preparing- to make a text-book available for 

 American purposes.* Delightful place as London is 

 for persons engaged in such sort of work, there is 

 nothing strange or unusual in one's having a fit of the 

 blues when the broad ocean is between one's self and 

 one's home. The following fragments of a most kind- 

 ly and cosy letter tell their own story : 



SARATOGA, November 12, 1865. 



DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER: Your letter of super- 

 abounding misery came yesterday. It seems to me it must 

 explode soon ; I do not think the boilers can stand another 

 inch of pressure. I think we have discomfort enough on 

 this raw, bleak, windy hill, with our extraordinary environ- 

 ment. I have Millicent here, drawing part of the time ; 

 Kitty has a seamstress part of the time; Kitty, Carrie, 

 and Zella are housekeepers. Last Thursday Mrs. Rowland 

 sent word that she and Mrs. Carr were coming a-visiting 

 Friday. At the same time Carrie received a letter that her 

 folks were to have a surprise party Friday night, and she 

 must come home. And so Pa had to quit the securing of 

 his cabbage and go up on to the mountain to carry his help, 

 and Zella has been after her to-day. I can't get a thing 

 done to the ice-house ; the turnips and the cabbages have 

 occupied the last three weeks. Our father's cabbage crop 

 comes out as. usual he can't get anything for it. Three 

 fourths of the teams we meet coming from Saratoga are 

 laden with cabbages which they can't give away. Cab- 

 bages, rye, and rye-straw are the minima of the market. 

 Why do I talk about such things ? Because the universe 

 from this standpoint is composed entirely of cabbages and 

 carrots and kindred objects and interests. They have hired 



* Miss Youmans's Botany was published in 1869, and has been a very 

 successful text-book. 



