The Philadelphia Committee Have Sent A
Cordial Invitation To The Members Of The British Association To Attend
Their Meetings, Offering To Do The Utmost In Their Power To Make The
Visit At Once Pleasant And Profitable.
This will be a red letter year in
the history of both Associations.
Letter No. 1.
_Thursday, August 21st, 1884; on board "PARISIAN," - getting near
Newfoundland._
My beloved Mother. - I sent you some lines from the train on Saturday
16th, and a card to Clara after we arrived on board. This is a capital
ship, and lucky for us it is so, for we have had a regular gale. I
little thought it was possible that I should dislike any sea as I do
this Atlantic! It has been dreadful weather - grey in the clouds above
and waters beneath, and blowing hard, without anything to brighten the
vast waste of waters, and I have heartily wished myself away from it.
This truly humiliating state of things will cause you to triumph over
me, no doubt! I became uncomfortable and headachy and could do nothing,
nor bear to stay in the saloon, and the drawing room, such as it is, is
taken possession of by the men, who lay themselves down full length on
the seats and leave no room for any ladies, so I have stayed in my
cabin. Dr. Protheroe Smith has been quite a comfort to me. He is such a
good man, and so pleasant, and has given me things to read, and relates
interesting medical and religious experiences. While I write, an
enormous wave has dashed against my port light and given me a flash of
darkness. Hedley has been rather ill, but has never quite lost his
appetite. Gibson and the two others have held out well. Evelyn has been
in her berth since Monday, when it began to blow, but she has not been
really ill. John and Dick have braved the storm on deck, and say the
sight of the waves from the stern was magnificent, but I don't care for
this kind of awful uncomfortable magnificence, which makes me feel a
miserable shrimp, whose fate it is to be swallowed up by these raging
waves, and who well deserves it. So I only made a feeble attempt to get
to the deck on Monday, and was glad, to leave it in half an hour when it
rained. I went down to the drawing room to look at some men playing
chess, but as the others stared at me as if I had no right to be there,
and the motion was very bad, I had soon to leave ignominiously. Mr.
Barrett has entertained me with some ghost stories, well authenticated
and printed for private circulation. I have begun writing this to-day
because there seems some chance of posting it on Saturday or Sunday,
when Sir Leonard and Lady Tilley and two sons are to be landed at New
Brunswick as we pass down the Straits of Belle Isle, I think.
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