ed as the vehicle to convey an
expression of approbation, affection, criticism, or disapproval in such
a merry mode that even the bitterest draught seemed sweet."

"1881, July 5. We left Vassar, June 24, on the steamer 'Galatea,' from
New York to Providence. I looked out of my state-room window, and saw a
strange-looking body in the northern sky. My heart sank; I knew
instantly that it was a comet, and that I must return to the
observatory. Calling the young people around me, and pointing it out to
them, I had their assurance that it was a comet, and nothing but a
comet.

"We went to bed at nine, and I arose at six in the morning. As soon as I
could get my nieces started for Providence, I started for
Stonington,--the most easy of the ways of getting to New York, as I
should avoid Point Judith.

"I went to the boat at the Stonington wharf about noon, and remained on
board until morning--there were few passengers, it was very quiet, and I
slept well.

"Arriving in New York, I took cars at 9 A.M. for Poughkeepsie, and
reached the college at dinner-time. I went to work the same evening.

"As I could not tell at what time the comet would pass the meridian, I
stationed myself at the telescope in the meridian-room by 10 P.M., and
watched for the comet to cross. As it approached the meridian, I saw
that it would go behind a scraggy apple-tree. I sent for the watchman,
Mr. Crumb, to come with a saw, and cut off the upper limbs. He came back
with an axe, and chopped away vigorously; but as one limb after another
fell, and I said, 'I need more, cut away,' he said, 'I think I must cut
down the whole tree.' I said, 'Cut it down.' I felt the barbarism of it,
but I felt more that a bird might have a nest in it.

"I found, when I went to breakfast the next morning, that the story had
preceded me, and I was called 'George Washington.'

"But for all this, I got almost no observation; the fog came up, and I
had scarcely anything better than an estimation. I saw the comet blaze
out, just on the edge of the field, and I could read its declination
only.

"On the 28th, 29th, and July 1st, I obtained good meridian passages, and
the R.A. must be very good.

"Jan. 12, 1882. There is a strange sentence in the last paragraph of Dr.
Jacobi's article on the study of medicine by women, to the effect that
it would be better for the husband always to be superior to the wife.
Why? And if so, does not it condemn the ablest women to a single li