nce a week,
written a book, painted lots of pictures to give away, and really need
rest, only I hate rest.... We find out where our hearts really are when
we get these fancied invitations homeward. I look upon Christians who
are, at such times, reluctant to go, with unfeigned amazement. The
spectacle, too often seen, of shrinking from the presence of Christ, is
one I can not begin to understand. I should think it would have been a
terrible disappointment to you to get so far on and then have to come
back; but we can be made willing for anything.

I am glad you liked Griselda; I knew you would. [8]

The extreme heat and her unusually enfeebled state rendered the summer
a very trying one; but its discomfort was in a measure relieved by the
extraordinary loveliness of the Dorset scenery this season. There was
much in this scenery to remind her of Chateau d'Oex, where she had
passed such happy weeks in the summer and autumn of 1858. If not marked
by any very grand features, it is pleasing in the highest degree. In
certain states of the atmosphere the entire landscape--Mt. Equinox,
Sunset Mountain, Owl's Head, Green Peak, together with the intervening
hills, and the whole valley--becomes transfigured with ever-varying
forms of light and shade. At such times she thought it unsurpassed by
anything of the kind she had ever witnessed, even in Switzerland.
The finest parts of this enchanting scene were the play of the
cloud-shadows, running like wild horses across the mountains, and the
wonderful sunsets; and both were in full view from the windows of
her "den." Her eyes never grew weary of feasting upon them. The
cloud-shadows, in particular, are much admired by all lovers of nature.
[9]

_To Mrs. George Payson, Kauinfels, July 8, 1876._

We have been here four weeks, and ought to have been here six, for I can
not bear heat; it takes all the life out of me. Last night when I went
up to my room to go to bed, the thermometer was 90 deg.... Are you not
going to the Centennial? George and I went on first and stayed at Dr.
Kirkbride's. They were as kind as possible, and we all enjoyed a great
deal. What interested me most were _wonderful_ life-like figures (some
said wax, but they were no more wax than you are) of Laplanders, Swedes,
and Norwegians, dressed in clothes that had been worn by real peasants,
and done by an artistic hand. Next to these came the Japanese
department; amazing bronzes, amazing screens ($1,000 a pair, embr