it am now writing against time because if I go off to 
sleep before Thompson comes back from his diplomatic dinner, 
I will miss the ice cream feast which the stewart has prepared. 
Tomorrow we are off for Orizaba, the crest of the Sierra, the 
next day to Puebla and the next to Oaxaca, on the Pacific slope. 
Mr. Armour is’ arranging by telegram to meet his relatives in 
New Orleans on the first of March. This indicates approxi- 
mately my probable return to the States and to my poor neglected 
wife and babes. I fear you have had a hard winter. This is 
one coldest winter here for years, yet half the people are in 
their bare feet - indeed they have no shoes, There is no 
chill in the air but on the streets there are the terrible odors 
of surface drainage - the breeders of yellow fever. 
I have lost 15 or 20 pounds and shall have to quit vote: 
ing and thine so hard and especially shall have to keep out 
of the track of "northers." 
But good bye, I have not told you half. In five 
minutes I shall be in bed or in the midst of a dish of ice cream. 
W.H.H. 
I hear Thompson hail the ship - so this last day of 
a week of high seas and champagne ends in a feast of ice cream. 
Hurray! - The five minutes are not up. 
Better keep this letter in the home circle. 
