s variety of cakes spread for tea, which did
not exactly suit our appetites, but we made the best of it, and then
went into the public drawing-room, where we found all the guests of the
hotel assembled, and the room brilliantly lighted. Here balls, or as
they call them "hops," take place three or four times a week. The scene
is thoroughly foreign, more German than French. The ladies' hoops are
extravagant in circumference; the colouring of their dresses is violent
and heavy; and there is scarcely a man to be seen without moustachios, a
beard, a straw hat, and a cigar. West Point is the Sandhurst of the
United States, and is also the nearest summer rendezvous of the
fashionables of New York. It is beautifully situated on the heights
above the river, and the Military Academy, about ten minutes' drive from
the hotel, commands a most splendid view of the Hudson, and the hills on
either side.

We went to the chapel on Sunday the 5th, where we joined, for the first
time, in the service in America. It differs but little from our own, and
was followed by a not very striking sermon. The Holy Communion was
afterwards administered, and it was a comfort to us to join in it on
this our first Sunday in America. The cadets filled the centre of the
chapel, and are a very good-looking set of youths, wearing a pretty
uniform, the jacket being pale grey with large silver buttons. We dined
at four o'clock at the _table d'hote_, in a room capable of holding
about four hundred. We sat next to the landlord, who carved at one of
the long tables. The dinner was remarkably well cooked in the French
style, but most deficient in quantity, and we rose from table nearly as
hungry as we sat down. Some of the ladies appeared at dinner in evening
dresses, with short sleeves (made _very_ short) and low bodies, a tulle
pelerine being stretched tight over their bare necks. In some cases the
hair was dressed with large ornamental pins and artificial flowers, as
for an evening party. We met them out walking later in the evening, with
light shawls or visites on their shoulders, no bonnets, and large fans
in their hands. This toilette was fully accounted for by the heat, the
thermometer being at 80 deg. in the shade. Many of the younger women were
very pretty, and pleasing in their manners.

We left West Point early on Monday morning, the 6th, taking the
steamboat back to New York, leaving William to pursue his journey to the
White Mountains and Montreal alo