Dr. Howe as a philanthropist, she resolved to
consult him upon a matter which she already had at heart. She
accordingly requested him one day to meet her on the following morning,
before the hour for the family breakfast. He did so, and she opened the
way to the desired conference by saying, "Dr. Howe, if I should
determine to study nursing, and to devote my life to that profession, do
you think it would be a dreadful thing?"

"By no means," replied my husband. "I think that it would be a very good
thing."

So much and no more of the conversation Dr. Howe repeated to me. We soon
heard that Miss Florence was devoting herself to the study of her
predilection; and when, years after this time, the Crimean war broke
out, we were among the few who were not astonished at the undertaking
which made her name world famous.

Just before our final embarkation for America, we passed a few days with
the same friends at Lea Hurst, a pretty country seat near Malvern. There
we met the well-known historian, Henry Hallam, celebrated also as the
father of Tennyson's lamented Arthur. "Martin Chuzzlewit" had recently
appeared, and I remember that Mr. Hallam read aloud with much amusement
the famous transcendental episode beginning, "To be introduced to a
Pogram by a Hominy." Mr. Hallam asked me whether talk of this sort was
ever heard in transcendental circles in America. I was obliged to
confess that the caricature was not altogether without foundation.

Soon after reaching London for the second time, we were invited to visit
Dr. and Mrs. Fowler at Salisbury. The doctor was much interested in
anthropology and kindred topics, and my husband found in him a congenial
friend. The house was a modest one, but the housekeeping was generous
and tasteful. As Salisbury was a cathedral town, the prominent people of
the place naturally belonged to the Anglican Church. At the Fowlers'
hospitable board we met the bishop, the dean, the rector, and the
curate.

I attended several services in the beautiful cathedral, and enjoyed very
much a visit to Stonehenge, which we made in company with our hosts, in
a carriage drawn by two small mules. I inquired why they used mules in
preference to horses, and was told that it was to avoid the tax imposed
upon the latter. Stonehenge was in the district of Old Sarum, once a
rotten borough, as certain places in England were termed which, with
little or no population, had yet the right to be represented in
Parliame