fine boquet. We were greatly pleased that our home seemed so much theirs,
that they did not hesitate to look for what they wanted, although I confess
my housewifely pride shrank from even their brief inspection of my menage
after a week crowded with company, and dining at all hours.

Mr. Gillette you know too well to need a line of him drawn; your mem-
ories will serve you better than my pen, for who could draw an odor, or outline
a charm, or recite a fascination, any more than grasp and hold a spirit, of
which one can not say, " Whence it cometh, and Whither it goeth! Words
about him seem like empty shells of speech

I have enjoyed greatly in years passed the architects whom circumstances
and your Father's taste, and affairs brought to us. The first
botanic superintendent of Central park", when with us, for a visit of few days
proved a most interesting companion of our drives. We drew out of him very
much of delightful information, of ^about the flora, of all countries, with which
he was entirely familiar. On one of our excursions with him, as we were
climbing Mt. Warner", he pulled up the fern which I have since called the
"Austrian fern", asking me if I had ever noticed the root; with his knife