annot say.
Fortunately, I remembered that it was not the matter at issue, and
explained, without admitting the impeachment, that the only question
that interested me in the least was what I hoped that it might become.
Incidentally she mentioned that she had only once heard of me. It was
the year previous when I had been speaking at Bryn Mawr and she had
refused in no measured terms an invitation to attend, as sounding
entirely too dull for her predilections. I have wondered whether this
was not another "small providence."

A pathological condition of one's internal workings is not unusual
even in Britons who "go down to the sea in ships," but such genius as
our family has displayed has, so history assures us, shone best on a
quarter-deck; and on this occasion it pleased God ultimately to add
another naval victory to our credit. It is generally admitted that an
abnormal mentality accompanies this not uncommon experience of human
life, and I found my lack of appreciation of the rapid voyage
paralleled by a wicked satisfaction that my mother preferred the brass
four-poster, so thoughtfully provided for her by the Cunard Company,
to the risks of the unsteady promenade deck.

When the girl's way and mine parted in that last word in material
jostlings, the custom-house shed in Manhattan, after the liner
arrived, I realized that it was rather an armistice than a permanent
settlement which I had achieved. Though there was no father in the
case, I learned that there was a mother and a home in Chicago. These
were formidable strongholds for a homeless wanderer to assault, but
rendered doubly so by the fact that there was neither brother nor
sister to leave behind to mitigate the possible vacancy. The
"everlasting yea" not having been forthcoming, under the
circumstances it was no easy task for me to keep faith with the many
appointments to lecture on Labrador which had been made for me. The
inexorable schedule kept me week after week in the East. Fortunately
the generous hospitality of many old friends who wanted the pleasure
of meeting my mother kept my mind somewhat occupied. But I confess at
the back of it the forthcoming venture loomed up more and more
momentous as the fateful day drew near for me to start for Chicago.

This visit to my wife's beautiful country home among the trees on the
bluff of Lake Michigan in Lake Forest was one long dream. My mother
and I were now made acquainted with the family and friends of my
fia