In The Evening We Went To His Mother's, Had
Tea, Oysters And Birds, And Then A Number Of People Came; Dr. And Mrs.
Cook, Professor Of Chemistry, And Mr. And Mrs. And Miss Warren, Several
Carpenters, Who Are Cousins Of The Neilsons, Admiral And Mrs. Admiral
Boggs, Dr. And Mrs. Hart.
He is a Dutch clergyman of the Dutch church
here, and has been at John's laboratory at Cambridge, and talked about
him and his work.
I observe the gentlemen stand talking to _each
other_ a good deal as we do in England. Mrs. Neilson _mere_ is a
very nice old lady, with white hair, and something like you. She spoke
about my brother Hedley, and tears came into her eyes as we talked;
everyone here seems to have read his memoirs, and I enclose a scrap out
of the New Brunswick paper, which will show you how he is remembered.
Mrs. T. Neilson seems a capital housekeeper, and the cooking and
everything seems so good and comfortable. Mr. Neilson owns most of the
town, and is delighted when he can _sell_ some of it, and the
neighbours are nearly all his cousins. He says the municipal government
of the town, &c., is at a _dead lock_. Nothing can be done to the
_roads_, (which are disgraceful!) or the streets, which are
dreadful _everywhere_ nearly, that there is perpetual bribery and
corruption, and all owing to universal suffrage, which makes the
respectable people quite helpless! This is the view of all the people I
stayed with or spoke to. On _Saturday, 18th_, we made a long
excursion to Long Branch, going by train to Redbank, a pretty village,
where we got a carriage and drove to Long Branch, a favourite watering
place of this part of the country and New York; miles upon miles of the
sea coast is covered with houses, small and large, in every variety of
style, with no trees and quite flat, with a fine sea beyond the sands.
It looked like a scene on a _stage_! We passed some very pretty
bays and creeks, but though the day was bright, the wind blew a gale,
and we could not sit about. We lunched at the railway station, with our
driver sitting at the next table. It is so funny to find everyone at
your elbow, whatever their position may be, but I must say they behave
very well. We returned by train, and I managed to catch a chill, and
have been in bed most of the morning. The day was so lovely that Mr.
Neilson persuaded me to drive with him in his _buggy_, a very
comfortable carriage like a tea cart, and I enjoyed the sweet _Indian
summer_ and the pretty foliage with peeps of the river. In the
afternoon I went with Mr. Neilson to call on his mother and Mrs.
Carpenter, both fine old ladies, and as I said before, _old_ and
young women are well taken care of here.
_October 22nd_. - Hotel Brunswick, Boston.
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