eighteen centuries ago. This priest has done
much noble work, rescued many from a life of degradation, brought up and
secured places in America for thousands of street gamins and orphans,
and his name is better known, especially among the English-speaking
Catholics, than that of any king or emperor. And who would not rather be
a Father Nugent than a king?
In the morning of the fourth of July I arrived in New York city, and
soon found President Chester Arthur, Gen. Garfield's successor,
occupying rooms near my own in the Fifth Avenue hotel. After breakfast I
was given an interview with him, and, of course, was pleased to learn
that he had followed my little work in India with interest, and
expressed much regret when I informed him of my intention to resign at
the expiration of my leave of absence.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Home from India--A Friendly Reception--Journey to New Mexico--The
Maxwell Land Grant Company--Renewed Visits to England and
Holland--Re-elected Secretary of State--Visit of the Swedish Officers
in Minneapolis and St. Paul--Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of
the Landing of the First Swedes in Delaware.
On the 8th of July I was again home with family and friends in
Minneapolis, and found everything pretty much as I had left it nearly
two years previously; except that my good old father had gone to his
final rest. A couple of days later I visited my farm, in the Red River
valley, and my old and faithful friend Capt. H. Eustrom, who lived close
by and was then holding an important office, and who had faithfully
attended to my interests at that place during my absence.
My Scandinavian friends had meanwhile arranged a reception for me, and
on the 11th some eighty of them joined in a banquet at Lyndale Hotel,
then situated in the suburbs of Minneapolis at Lake Calhoun. The
afternoon was devoted to a steamboat tour around the beautiful lake, and
in the evening the party all sat down to a sumptuous banquet, where many
addresses of welcome and tokens of friendship were spoken, read and
sung. I had been absent nearly two years, seen and experienced much of
the world and enjoyed many pleasures, but I found the old saying true;
"There is no place like home." These two years had been of particular
importance in the history of the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The
population had nearly trebled during that time, and such improvements
had been made that I could hardly recognize them.
A wee
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