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PR ae aap el ns Medea gee a oe ee 
ar. 75.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 787 
quite alone. Goodale took off Sereno Watson with 
him, on a slow steamer to Amsterdam; will run for 
a acest or so over nearer parts of the Continent, 
and Watson will look in at Kew. He was much 
worn down, and the rest and change will be good for 
him. I have filled my sheet with this gossip. 
It was during this visit that Dr. Gray, when the 
family gathered one morning for breakfast, had dis- 
appeared. He came in smiling when the meal was 
half over, and in answer to the anxious question 
where he had been, said, “Oh, I have been to say to 
Mrs. Rogers that I forgave her for getting above me 
in the spelling-class.” 
CamBrincE, October 31, 1886. 
Dear Hooker, — Thanks for a nice long letter 
from Bournemouth, September 27. Thanks, too, for 
the hope —though rather dim —that you and wife 
may come over to us in the spring. Before winter is 
over we must arrange some programme ; for we four 
must meet again somehow and somewhere, while in 
the land of the living. But how is a problem. 
. . [see how difficult it must be for you to get 
away as far as tous. Our obstacle to any amount of 
strolling away is mainly the fear that if I interrupt 
my steady work on the “ Flora of North America,” I 
may not get back to it again, or have the present zeal 
and ability for prosecuting it. 
On the other hand, if I and my wife do not get 
some playdays now, while we can enjoy them, the 
time will soon come when we shall have to say that we 
have no pleasure in them. Therefore we are in sore 
straits. . . . If really you cannot come, then we will 
