A Sportsman 53 



from having married a few months before, but from 

 a disinclination and principle, as he on several occa- 

 sions remarked to me, and that he immediately de- 

 stroyed such letters, excepting in some instances, 

 when he returned them with sensible advice to desist. 



One evening while we were all after dinner in the 

 Booths' sitting-room, a card was brought in from a 

 young lady who requested an interview with Edwin. 

 He smiled and told the boy to say he was engaged, 

 when his wife, amused, said: 



"No; let her come up. I am anxious to see what 

 kind of young ladies are after you, and how she will 

 appear with us all here." 



So the yoimg lady was brought up — and a bloom- 

 ing, exuberant young lass she was — ushered in, 

 holding a large bouquet for Edwin. She was com- 

 pletely staggered by the standing committee which 

 received her, and it was rather distressing to see 

 her confusion and awkward dilemma and hear her 

 choking words, that she had "brought the bouquet 

 for Mr. Booth." Edwin accepted the flowers, and 

 thanked her, at which she retired, with an experience 

 unlooked for. 



From Boston we all, including Walter M. Brackett, 

 the celebrated artist, his wife, and young son, — except- 

 ing John Wilkes, — made an excursion to the Umbagog 

 Lake in New Hampshire, stopping at a moderate -sized 

 hotel at Upton, kept by S. F. Frost. I remember his 

 initials distinctly because we called him Superfine, at 

 which he would give a winning smile. Dan Setchell, 

 a comic actor and a particular friend of Edwin's, 

 accompanied us; also some Baltimore friends of Ed- 

 win's — a gentleman and his not long-wedded wife. 



