ythe, at Fresh Pond. Mr. Wythe had been a trapper for John Jacob
Astor, and he had published a pamphlet upon the region of the Rocky
Mountains. Elisha H. Allen afterwards our Consul to Honolulu, and then
Chief Justice of Hawaii, and more recently Minister from that country
to the United States, was a member of the committee. Mr. Allen and
myself were at Fresh Pond together and under the lead of Wythe we went
to one of his large ice-houses. The month was August and the men were
engaged in removing ice from the house for loading upon the railway
cars. From the top of the house to the ground floor must have been
sixty feet or more. The cakes of ice were sent down in a run, and by
the side of the run there was a narrow foot track, over which the men
passed. Mr. Wythe with a lantern led in going up the track to the
height where the men were at work. Allen followed and I was behind
Allen. When we had ascended about one third of the way, the men above
sent down a cake of ice that seemed at first view to threaten the
passengers on the side track. Allen stepped back and fell outside the
track and disappeared in the darkness. The men were called and by the
aid of lights Allen was found in a pit about ten or twelve feet in
depth that had been made by removing ice. By the help of a ladder he
was taken out, much frightened, but not injured seriously. Mr. Allen
was the son of Sam. C. Allen of Northfield, formerly a member of
Congress. Mr. Elisha H. Allen was elected to Congress in 1840 from
the Bangor district, State of Maine. He went to Hawaii in 1849 and he
returned in 1851 or 1852. Upon his return I had several interviews
with him as he lived at the Adams House, Boston, for a time, where I
was then living. From him I received the impression that he was
authorized to say to the Secretary of State that the authorities of
Hawaii were prepared to enter upon negotiations for the cession of the
Island to the United States. I understood from Mr. Allen that Mr.
Webster did not look with favor upon the scheme. In later years I
renewed my acquaintance with Mr. Allen. He was a man of quick
perceptions, of much general information, and as a debater in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives his standing was always good.
As to his integrity it was never brought into question.

[* I was elected a member of the American Academy on my birthday, 1857.
J. Lothrop Motley and Charles Francis Adams were elected at the same
time.