YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
From the Library of
IRVING GOODWIN VANN, '63
Gift of his children
FLORENCE VANN FOWLER
IRVING DILLAYE VANN, '97

RECOLLECTIONS

ABRAHAM LANSING

EDITED BY
CHARLES E. FITCH, L.H.D.

PRIVATELY PRINTED
1909

THREE HUNDRED COPIES
PRINTED FROM
TYPE BY

" Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain,
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain,
Awake but one and lo ! what myriads rise,
Each stamps its image as the other flies."

CONTENTS

PAGE

i Biography  3
11 Appreciations .  13
in Letters  27
iv Public Tributes  51
v Speeches by Abraham Lansing  71
vi Camp Albany. — Log Book  123

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Abraham Lansing  Frontispiece
From a photograph by Pirie MacDonald, 1898
John Lansing, Jr  4
From a portrait now hanging in the Court of Appeals Room, State Capitol, Albany, N. Y.
Abraham G. Lansing  ... .6
From a pastel made about 1830
Abraham Yates, Jr  8
From a portrait by Robert, now hanging in the Bar Association, New York City
Christopher Y. Lansing  10
From a photograph by Sterry about 1870
Abraham Lansing  122
From a photograph by Sterry about 1883
Camp Albany on the Ristigouche River  124
From a photograph
Gaffing a Salmon  . 188
From a photograph taken by Miss McAndrew in 1885
Jock Scott Fly  266

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY
ABRAHAM LANSING, the third child and second son of
IX. Christopher Yates and Caroline Thomas Lansing, was
born February 27, 1835, at 368 North Market Street, now 515
Broadway, Albany, N. Y., in a house built by his maternal
grandfather, Abraham Yates, Jr., and of which Abraham
Lansing was the owner at the time of his death.
He always lived in Albany. He was of honorable and dis
tinguished lineage. The Lansings are traced back to Fred
erick, of the town of Hassel, in the Province of Overyssel, in
Holland, as ancestor. Three of his sons and two daughters
arrived in New Amsterdam in 1680. The line descends
through Gerrit, the second son of Frederick, his son Jacob
and Jacob's son, Gerrit J., to Abraham G, the paternal
grandfather of Abraham, who was a life-long resident of
Albany, born in 1756 and died in 1834, a man of promi
nence, Surrogate of Albany County from 1787 to 1808, and
State Treasurer from, 1803 to 1809 and from 1810 to 181 2.
His brother, John Lansing, Jr., born in Albany in 1754 and
dying in 1829, had an illustrious public career. He studied
law in New York with James Duane, was Military Secretary
to General Philip Schuyler, Member of the Fourth, Fifth,
Sixth and Seventh New York Assemblies, Representative in
Congress under the Articles of Confederation, Speaker of the

4 ABRAHAM LANSING
Assembly in 1786, member of the Commission to Make Final
Division of the Territorial Claims of New York and Massa
chusetts, Mayor of Albany, and again Member of Assembly
in 1786, Representative in Congress under the Confederation
and Delegate to the Convention which framed the Federal
Constitution in 1787, member of the State Convention which
ratified the same in 1788, Justice and Chief Justice of the
State Supreme Court, Chancellor of the Court of Chancery,
Regent of the University, Presidential Elector and nominee
for Governor.
Abraham Yates, Jr., whose daughter Susanna married Abra
ham G. Lansing, was born in 1724 and died in 1796. He was
eminent in his day, being Sheriff of Albany County, Deputy to
the Provincial Convention of New York and Deputy and
President pro tern, of the First, Second and Third and Presi
dent of the Fourth Provincial Congress, member of the First
and Second Councils of Safety of New York, member of the
Committee which, in 1777, framed the first Constitution of
the State, member of the New York Council of Appointment
in 1777 and 1784, Delegate to the Continental Congress in
1787 and 1788, and Mayor of Albany from 1789 to 1796.
His portrait, by Robert, was presented by Abraham Lansing
to the New York City Bar Association.
Abraham G. Lansing had a large family, nine of his sons
reaching maturity, and four daughters. One of these, Gerrit
Yates, was Regent and Vice-Chancellor of the University of
the State of New York, Judge of the Court of Probate, Clerk
of the Assembly and a Representative in Congress from 1831
to 1837.

^C*&^~^^7^r

BIOGRAPHY 5
Christopher Yates Lansing, the father of Abraham, never
held official position, except as Private Secretary to Governor
Joseph C. Yates, when he was a very young man, but he was
a learned, diligent and upright counselor-at-law, and died in
1872, at the age of seventy-six, universally respected, after a
life of industry, usefulness and unsullied purity. He was
devoted to his children, inculcating them with religious prin
ciples which had marked and beneficent influence upon their
lives. Abraham's maternal family was also one of signal worth.
His ancestor, in this line, was William Thomas, of Welsh
extraction, one of the "Merchant Adventurers," who pro
moted the enterprise of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims, and com
ing later to Plymouth became one of its Assistant Governors,
being so chosen in 1642 and annually re-elected until his
death at Marshfield in 1657, at the age of ninety years. The
estate at Marshfield, long known as the "Daniel Webster
Place," the largest and finest grant ever made by the colony,
attests both his importance and the esteem in which he was
held. His son, Captain Nathaniel, served in King Philip's
War in 1675. The latter's son, Nathaniel, was, for many years,
Judge of Probate for the county of Plymouth and Judge of
the Supreme Court from 171 2 to 171 8. His son, William, was
a physician of extensive practice in Plymouth for more than
half a century, was born in Boston in 1718, and died in 1802.
He was of the medical staff in the hazardous and successful
exploit against Louisburg in 1745, and was at Crown Point in
1753. He was a zealous patriot during the war for American
independence. After the battle of Lexington, in 1775, he

6 ABRAHAM LANSING
immediately, with his four sons, Joshua, Joseph, John and
Nathaniel, joined the first-formed revolutionary corps. The
first named of these was Aide-de-camp to Gen. John Thomas
in the expedition to Canada in 1776, and, after the peace, was
a Representative and Senator in the Massachusetts Legislature,
and, from 1792 until his death in 1821, was Judge of Probate
for Plymouth county. Joseph and John continued in the
service during the war, the first as captain of artillery, and the
second in the medical staff. John subsequently established
himself as a physician at Poughkeepsie, in this State, and died
in 1 818. He married Gertrude Fonda, in 1797, and was the
father of Caroline, the mother of Abraham.
Abraham Lansing received his preliminary education in a
select school in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and in the
Albany Academy. He entered Williams College, then under
the presidency of Mark Hopkins, as a sophomore, in 1852, and
was graduated therefrom, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts,
in 1855. The class was notable for the achievements of its
members in after life, embracing two United States Senators,
two representatives in the lower house of Congress, seven
doctors of divinity, four doctors of law, four college professors
and others who attained distinction in their various professions.
Among these Lansing was highly esteemed for the dignity and
refinement of his character and for his scholarly and literary
acquirements. Among his other college honors, it may be
mentioned that he was a speaker at the prize rhetorical exhi
bition in 1854, his subject being "Architecture," president in
his senior year of the "Philotechnian," one of the two literary
societies, and an orator at commencement, the title of his

^/^jy^yu'^^

BIOGRAPHY 7
address being "Bubbles." He was also a member of the
Kappa Alpha, the first of Greek-letter fraternities founded
upon a social basis and still a leading one in several American
universities. His name is perpetuated in his Alma Mater
through the "Abraham Lansing Scholarship," established by
his wife in 1906.
After leaving college, he studied law in his father's office
and in the Albany Law School (Union University), from
which institution he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws
in December, 1856, being at the same time admitted to the bar
of the State of New York, and began the practice of his pro
fession, being actively engaged therein until his death, and
receiving a number of public appointments in connection
therewith. He was admitted to practice in the United States
Courts in 1867. He was City Attorney of Albany in 1868.
He was the first reporter of the decisions of the Supreme
Court, as authorized by law, serving as such from 1869 to
1873, when he resigned the office. Seven volumes known as
"Lansing's Reports," testify to his legal knowledge, capacity
and fidelity to his trust. From 1876 to 1878 he was Corpora
tion Counsel of Albany. During nearly the whole of his forty
years of practice as a lawyer he was the senior of the firm of
A. and W. Lansing, the second member being a younger
brother, William. His standing at the bar throughout, as
able, safe and conscientious in counsel, skillful and persuasive
in the trial of causes, and sound and resourceful in argument
before the appellate tribunals, finds expression in the records
of the courts and especial appreciation and esteem in the
tributes to his memory by the leaders of his profession at its

8 ABRAHAM LANSING
meeting immediately after his death, and reproduced in this
volume. Outside of the duties, personal and official, which his pro
fession imposed upon him, State preferment sought him and
found him equipped for and diligent in the discharge of its
responsibilities. In 1874, owing to the temporary disability of
the State Treasurer, Governor Dix appointed Mr. Lansing
as Acting Treasurer, a position he filled for several months
with entire fidelity and acceptance, the appointment being a
signal evidence of the confidence reposed in him by the chief
executive, whose political faith was other than his. In the
summer of 1879 he was a delegate from the American Com
mittee for the Codification of the Law of Nations to the con
ference of the general body in London. In the fall of 1881
he accepted the Democratic nomination for State Senator
and was elected by a majority largely in excess of the average
party vote. During his senatorial term, 1882-3, he took an
active part in legislation. He was chairman of the important
Committee on Railroads and a member of the Finance Com
mittee, and was largely influential in the creation of the State
Railroad Commission. He procured a new charter for Albany,
had charge of the measure which provided for the reservation
and preservation of the State Park at Niagara Falls, and
inspired the acts for the remodelling of the scientific depart
ments of the State and the placing of the capitol and other
State buildings under the control of a single superintendent.
He was not a frequent participator in the debates of the
Senate, but when he did speak it was to the purpose, clearly
and convincingly. He retired from the Senate with the esteem

BIOGRAPHY 9
of his associates and public recognition of his capacity and
integrity. In the business development and eleemosynary activities of
the city he was deeply interested and was officially identified
with many of the organizations for their promotion. He was
long the attorney and counselor and was for a number of
years the senior director of the National Commercial Bank.
He was a member of the Board of Park Commissioners of
Albany, a trustee of the Albany Savings Bank, a trustee of
the Albany Academy, a governor of the Albany Hospital, a
trustee of the Albany Medical College, of the Albany Rural
Cemetery and of the Dudley Observatory— all of which reveal
his quality as a citizen, his concern for local enterprises and
charities and the reliance of the community upon him, as
evinced by the demand for such constant and varied service in
its behalf. He was also a founder and one of the first Board
of Trustees and of the first House Committee of the Fort
Orange Club, the leading social organization of Albany, the
charter and constitution of which he drafted, and he was a life
member of the State Geological Society, a member of the
Century Association, the Holland Society, the University
Club, the Bar Association of the City of New York and the
Albany Burns Club. Nearly all the civic, social and charitable
bodies with which he was affiliated adopted resolutions expres
sive of their sense of loss on the occasion of his death.
His public addresses, although not numerous, were dis
tinguished for felicity and clearness of diction and for appro
priateness to the occasion which inspired them.
In politics he was a Democrat. In part his political faith

10 ABRAHAM LANSING
was doubtless due to heredity and early environment, for the
Lansings and the families affiliated with them had been of the
Jeffersonian School and eminent in public affairs as already
indicated, but, through his own study and reflection, he
reached well-settled convictions concerning the functions of
government, which confirmed the ancestral inclination and
made him consistent in his adhesion to Democratic principles
throughout his life. He cannot be said to have been an active
politician, but he was at one time chairman of the Democratic
Committee, and accepted honorable positions at the hands of
his party. His political career was unsullied and loyal to the
public welfare.
He found his recreation in the fields and by the streams in
communion with nature. More than all else, he enjoyed his
vacations in the Ristigouche country. He kept a log of his
experiences therein, a portion of which is here presented.
He died at his home in Albany, October 4, 1899. His
devoted wife survives. He was married November 26, 1873,
to Catherine, the only daughter of General Peter Gansevoort
and granddaughter of General Peter Gansevoort, Jr., of Fort
Stanwix fame. Their home was the fine old Gansevoort man
sion on Washington avenue, whose traditional hospitality was
by them constantly maintained.
The foregoing is simply a sketch of an able lawyer, an
upright public servant, a good citizen, a cultivated gentleman,
courteous and considerate in all the relations of life, a lover of
the beautiful in art and nature, and one whose memory is very
precious to those who had the privilege of knowing him.

APPRECIATIONS

APPRECIATIONS

BY THE HON. CHARLES ANDREWS, LL. D.
I FIRST became acquainted with the late Abraham Lansing
in 1870, and from that time until his death it was my
privilege to enjoy his friendship, to meet him in the discharge
of his professional duties and at his hospitable home. The
social life of Albany during my residence there took its tone
from members of families whose ancestors for generations
had been citizens of Albany and from men of distinction in
Church and State who had adopted Albany as their home.
The social standards were elevated, pure and inspiring. It
was not alone the refinements which come from social contact
which attracted the observer, but associated with these was
an atmosphere which can be felt only where the higher things
of the intellect and of the spirit are given their appropriate
recognition. In this society Mr. Lansing took his place, not only as the
representative of an honored ancestry, but from those per
sonal qualities which adorn human nature and demand recog
nition independently of adventitious circumstances. He had
the high breeding and courtesy which accompanies a simple,
genuine character. He loved books and his knowledge of the
best literature was wide and discriminating. He enjoyed the

14 ABRAHAM LANSING
world of nature, and the woods, the fields and the streams
were to him a source of enduring pleasure. His life was quiet
and unostentatious. He held his friends with a firm grasp and
none who became his friends ever released their hold upon
him. Others are more familiar with his life as a citizen.
I know that he took an active interest in public affairs and
in undertakings having for their object the religious, educa
tional and civic interests of Albany. With his work as a
lawyer before the court of which I was a member, I was more
familiar. He came to the argument of cases with thorough
and conscientious preparation and his arguments were clear,
logical and usually convincing. The court accepted without
reserve any statement of fact which he made, and I venture to
say that he never made to any court any statement which he
did not believe to be true.
Mr. Lansing was a man of high ideals, of pure character,
a good citizen, a lovable friend. He was true in all the rela
tions of life. I mourn his loss and cherish his memory.

BY THE REV. WALTON W. BATTERSHALL, D.D.
To the memorial minute presented to and adopted by the
Vestry of St. Peter's Church in the city of Albany, on
Wednesday, October 4, 1899, I beg to add a word to which
I may give a more personal accent.
The nine years since his death have only deepened my esti
mate of his fine and noble personality and of all that he was
to Albany, to St. Peter's Church and to myself.

APPRECIATIONS i5
As I write, the deep-set eyes in the picture of his strong and
refined face, alongside of the faces of Justice Peckham and
Judge Andrews, on the wall space in my study above my
books, look down upon me with all the kindliness and stead
fastness which lit up those eyes in the days of old that are so
dear and they fill my thought with gracious memories. As I
gaze upon his picture, I recall a scene in the recent history of
St. Peter's which has left upon my mind and heart a vivid
picture of his presence and the echo of his voice. It was on
that day when we gave benediction to the Pott's Memorial
Rectory, and I can see him now as he stood then, midway on
the stairway of the central hall, while men and women of St.
Peter's crowded the first and second floors of the new rectory,
listening to the thoughtful and graceful words with which he
expressed the congratulations of the hour.
Others can give more significant testimony to his eminence
in his profession and at least equal testimony to the high pur
pose and consistency of his life among men, but I may be
permitted to bear witness to the more intimate traits of his
personality. In a peculiar degree he was a man who had the instinct and
genius of friendship. His nature was rich in the affections
and loyalties that shape and weld "the hooks of steel" by
which the souls of men are drawn together and, whatever the
strain of circumstances, are held together. In all this, there
was something finer and deeper than the urbanity of the gen
tleman and the good nature of the comrade. He was a man
of thought, self-control and poise, who looked beyond the
veils of things visible and provable to the deeper and larger

16 ABRAHAM LANSING
things believable, in which lie the strongest roots of character
and conduct. His whole life in his home, his work and his
religion were built on fidelities, and it is in fidelity to my esti
mate and love of him that I write this word.

BY WILLIAM P. PRENTICE, LL. D.
The life of Abraham Lansing was singularly even and for
tunate. He lived and died in Albany, N. Y., as his forebears
had done; and, like them, gathered civic honors and distinc
tion, as it were, in a regular course, and in a measure propor
tionate to his advantages and to his time. Good quality and
fine bearing go far in the day and stay to the end with such
men as our friend Abraham Lansing, making life's pathway
smoother and fairer to every one reached by them. They
were traits in a personality and character, honored and trusted
to an unusual degree throughout his career, and gave force
and effect to his intellect, education, industry and work which
were also factors in his success. This was well earned, with
out enmity and well used. His commerce with men was most
pleasant and never would he do a wanton injury. One hesi
tates to apply that overworked word among us, a gentleman,
but you could define it by him, as we knew him. One of the
best of citizens and friends, "nisi perversus maximc quisque
ilium non deligeret modo sed amaret."
Tall and handsome, graceful in figure and action, with blue
eyes, kind expression and pleasing voice, having always a
certain reserve and poise, his figure is before us, as though

APPRECIATIONS 17
the seven years and a half since the day of his death, October
4, 1899, had faded away. He was a good comrade and com
panion. Many sum up virtues in saying one is a good fisher
man or angler. He was that, too ; fond of the country and of
life. He was good in speech, talked well, was restful and
aidful in conversation. Some of us were his schoolmates,
classmates in college and fellow-townsmen, and this is our
recollection. He was born February 2"j, 1835, and had part of his early
training at a boarding-school in Berkshire county, Massachu
setts, within the country, radius and impressions of Williams
College, whither afterwards his course turned. The years
preparatory to college were spent at the Albany Boys'
Academy, a long-established and well-known institution,
whose principals had ever been successful masters of wide
and approved reputation. Such were at its head in his time,
in succession, Dr. Campbell, Dr. Cook and the Rev. W. A.
Miller, with all of whom the boys in the higher department
were in close touch and had from them personal direction in
their studies and guidance. Especially was this gainful from
the manners and gentle, genial sway of Mr. Miller, a highly
cultured and scholarly man of some worldly experience. He
led his pupils with persuasive and inciting sympathy to attack
their appointed tasks with vigor, having some perception of
their objects and occasional glimpses, at least, of a larger field
than the landscape and horizon before them in their books.
Of such heaven-born teachers, Lansing was soon to know
another, the Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins, the president of his
college. They are of two kinds. One prepares the youth to

1 8 ABRAHAM LANSING
think, oft-times with them and as they do; the other makes
their students individuals, to think of their own motion,
generally from right premises and in the right way, but at all
events they must think. Of this second order was Dr. Hop
kins, one of the greatest men. Education seemed to begin
anew under him.
The scheme of education which prevailed, the same in
academy and in college up to the senior year, termed old
fashioned now, was to one purpose, to make self-reliant, prac
tical men, able to take and improve their places in the outside
world, with principles and not merely selfish motives. First
and last it was of training and discipline. With Latin, Greek
and mathematics, which were as the three R's in primary
schools, and English, were included oratory and composition,
not lost arts then, and occupying generally the Friday af
ternoons; also debating societies were for out of school
exercises and diversion. In college two literary societies flour
ished to the same end and college politics centered about them.
It was not necessary to arrange for play further than to
furnish a playground. Youthful spirits and energy sufficed
for all the rest and they never failed or flagged. It may be
said for the graduate generally that he was able to walk alone
and to make good way. But, as to electives and "the exploded
meteor" theory of a curriculum, it may be said that the col
legian knew nothing and at no time, unless possibly in cat
echism class, or in class prayer meeting, would he meet the
doctrine of election until he came to choose his profession and
set out for himself.
But, though all were on the same voyage, there was room,

APPRECIATIONS 19
and there remained the same everlasting diversities of man
kind, in the young and in the old, as the race has ever known.
Our academy student was fitted at the age of sixteen for
college, and entered, in 1852, the sophomore class of Wil
liams, which graduated in 1855 with fifty-five members ; thirty
had dropped by the way. Lansing took the A. B. degree and
had sufficient rank for a commencement oration.
The three years of college were not of pampered luxury.
Chapel bell had rung at five-thirty summer mornings and at
quarter past six in the winter, when sometimes there would
be two feet of snow in the paths. One recitation was before
breakfast, by candle light in the dark season, and if the mon
itors had not their stove fires started early, the rooms were
cold. A second recitation was in the forenoon and a third
in the afternoon, each lasting about an hour. Breakfast was
at half-past seven, dinner one o'clock, tea or supper at six,
and one had to be prompt, as the tables were not kept long
waiting. The evening, after eight o'clock, was supposed to
be devoted to study and lights should be out early. The
vacations were nominally of three months, six weeks in the
summer and early fall, the winter one taking in, if one had
excuse, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and beyond, to
enable some of the students to teach school, and three weeks
or a month in the spring. Commencement was in the early
days of August, and preceded by the two weeks of senior
vacation. Lansing bore his part in all the college life decorously
enough not to be called up for infraction of the rules. These
were severe, but, like the Sibylline books, most of them lost

20 ABRAHAM LANSING
or unknown. He belonged to one of the older secret socie
ties, the Kappa Alpha, and of the literary societies to the
Philotechnian, of which he was president for a term in his
senior year, but he was not particularly or especially promi
nent. He had few intimates, but a large circle of acquain
tances and friends. In one winter vacation it was said he
taught school, and with the usual enjoyment on both sides
of the country district school. These are pleasant memories
to those of us who remain, but far removed, of a different
century and an age unknown to the university men of to-day.
In the fall of his graduating year, 1855, Lansing began the
study of law in the office of his father, Christopher Y. Lan
sing, Esq., and also at the Albany Law School. He finished
the course, took the usual degree and, in 1856, was admitted
to the bar.
The dean of the law school was Amos Dean, who had con
siderable practice as a referee, often appointed and chosen in
difficult cases, and widely recognized as methodical, careful
and learned. He was also an author of some fame, both in
law and history. The distinguished jurists Judges Ira Harris
and Amasa J. Parker were also professors and lecturers, and
they read on equity, criminal law and practice. Judge Har
ris had renown in pleadings, Judge Parker in criminal law.
Judge Harris was the United States Senator in 1861 and dur
ing the war.
The young lawyer might well have repeated to himself the
saying of Lord Coke, "Of worldly blessings I account it not
the least, that in the beginning of my study of the laws of
this realm, the courts of justice, both of equity and of law,

APPRECIATIONS 21
were furnished with men of excellent gravity and wisdom.
* * * Of these reverend judges and others, their asso
ciates, I must ingeniously confess that I learnt many things."
Similar tribute Lansing was accustomed to bear to these great
men, who fortunately for him presided over his cunabula
legis (cradles of the law) .
Now equipped for his profession, Lansing soon took up its
work in Albany. When his brother William, of the Class of
1857 of Williams College, had completed his studies, they
formed a partnership for the general practice of law. It
became evident, without either intermissions or delays, that
Lansing, in all his associations, merited a high rank among
his fellow-men. In 1868 he was City Attorney. In 1869 he
was appointed Reporter of the Supreme Court, and he pub
lished the first seven volumes of the series of "Supreme Court
Reports." He was a Democrat in politics, and at one time
at the head of his party's County Committee. In 1874, under
a Republican administration, he was appointed, by Governor
Dix, Acting State Treasurer during the illness and incapacity
of the incumbent of the office. In 1876 he was made Corpo
ration Counsel of Albany and in 1882 he was elected to the
State Senate by more than a party vote. In that body he
had charge of important legislation and the title of Senator
clung to him long after he retired. He occupied many posi
tions of responsibility and trust. No name was more fre
quently to be found on the boards of commissioners,
governors, directors and trustees of the large institutions of
the city than his. Thus he served for a term on the parks,
and was brought into the direction of banks, of the Boys'

22 ABRAHAM LANSING
Academy, of the Girls' Academy, of the Hospital, the Rural
Cemetery, the Observatory and others, where he assiduously
performed his duties, and in some of these places he remained
many years. Take him all in all, he was a fine man, of strong
character, whom it honored every one to appreciate and
respect. BY BENJAMIN W. JOHNSON
My acquaintance with Senator Abraham Lansing dates
from the time of his election as Trustee of the Albany Savings
Bank, December 21, 1881, but it was not until nearly the
close of his service with this institution that opportunity was
afforded me to know and appreciate those qualities of mind
and heart which so endeared him to every one with whom he
came in contact.
The first impression given by his dignified and reserved
manner was that he was cold and uninterested in those out
side of his immediate circle of friends. It did not take long
to change this estimate when meeting him either socially or
in the course of business, when it was evident that he was full
of interest and sympathy and helpfulness towards his fellow-
men and his kind and courteous greeting was something
always to be remembered. He was firm and uncompromising
in his convictions of right, never swerving from his position
unless convinced that he was in error, and then he was quick
to acknowledge his mistake.
To the Board of Trustees he not only added dignity and
distinction, but was a helpful and conservative force in its

APPRECIATIONS 23
deliberations. It was, however, in connection with the me
morials which he prepared on the occasion of removal by
death of some of his associates that his warm human sym
pathy, his keen discernment of character and his mastery of
our language was evinced. There was never any fulsome
praise, such as is too often characteristic, but an appreciation
of every quality of his departed friend which was worthy of
record and a message of comfort and helpfulness to those most
nearly concerned. BY THE HON. ROBERT C. PRUYN
As my kinsman and very dear friend, who was always a
courteous gentleman and a charming companion, I often speak
of Mr. Lansing as one of the old school we see so little of
nowadays and miss so much in our hurried life.
As I am writing in my office, at the Commercial Bank, I
cannot help but think of Mr. Lansing in his business life,
where I knew him probably better than almost any one, for,
during fifteen years of my presidency and until his death, he
was the counsel of the bank. He was constant and untiring
in his loyalty, patient and resourceful in difficulties, just and
yet charitable and sympathetic, and altogether, one of the best
Directors the bank has ever had. Mr. Lansing's conservatism
was so well known that many people have been surprised
when I have told them that he was one of the most progres
sive men connected with our institution during the period of
its upbuilding. He always encouraged me towards broader
ideas and improved methods, and I feel deeply indebted to

24 ABRAHAM LANSING
him, personally, and think that I express the feelings of all
who were associated with him when I say that I believe this
institution owes much to him as one of its ablest and most
faithful friends.

letters

letters

Las Cruces, N. Mexico, Oct. 29, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
Having been exiled to this desert by my physician on ac
count of obdurate throat trouble, I only learned a few days
ago, by letter from our classmate, Fitch, of Rochester, of your
bereavement. This morning I have the clippings forwarded
from New York, which you were good enough to send me,
acquainting me with the grief of his cotemporaries and their
estimation of the virtues of their associate.
I remember well the first time I saw Mr. Lansing — one
September day at Williamstown, near half a century ago; a
tall, slender, graceful, pallid youth, holding a sun umbrella
over an aged man whom I supposed to be his father, though I
did not know his name, as they walked slowly up the western
slope toward the old "West College." I see one of the
obituaries says he entered sophomore in 1852; I had thought
we were freshmen together, but in any event, we were class
mates and became inseparable friends.
My intimacies in this world have been few with men, and
my affection for him was the strongest I have ever known.
As I recall him now from the dim shadows of that early time,

28 ABRAHAM LANSING
his nature seems to me the gentlest and purest and noblest of
them all.
Shortly after graduation, I came west and was lost in the
obscure life of the frontier, so that our acquaintance ended,
but I have always remembered him with the sincerest friend
ship. His departure breaks the most enduring tie that held
me to the past ; and the hereafter can have no greater felicity
than the pleasure of meeting him again.
Very respectfully, John J. Ingalls.

Nov. 24, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
I am obliged to you for the expressions in your note. In
the death of your husband, I felt the loss of a friend whose
intercourse was always a source of pleasure to me during my
stay in Albany. His loss to you must have been most severe,
and you have the merited sympathy of all your friends and of
those who knew him.
Pure in life, of high attainments, lovable in character and
affable in his relations to others, possessing the respect and
confidence of his associates and of the public, for whom he
so often and ably worked, his loss is a great one and must be
felt more generally than usual. I miss him, and shall miss
him, as the valued friend and the associate in many pleasant
reunions. ,,. . .
Very sincerely yours,
J. C. Gray.

LETTERS 29
Albany, January 1, 1900.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
At my New Year's Eve supper, at which your dear husband
and my valued friend had been so often the welcome guest, I
read the enclosed lines, which I now enclose to you.
Believe me to be, with very sincere regard,
Your friend, J. C. Gray.

Un flDemorfam
Abraham Lansing
(obiit October, 1899.)
Cherished hopes, which tinged our friendship
With the light of coming years,
Like the lovely morning vapors,
Shone for us, then changed to tears.
But the soul exhaled to Heaven
Floats above our cares and fears,
And the world beyond is brighter,
Where no mist obscures the sight.
Informed in mind, of winning grace,
We have loved him as we might,
And the mem'ry of his sweetness
Cheers a lonely home and hearth.
For the heart now sad and restless,
Pray God's aid the coming year !

New Year's Eve, 1899- 1900.

30 ABRAHAM LANSING Albany, Oct. 4, 1899.
The Ten Eyck.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
I realize nothing can be said at this time that will afford
you the slightest consolation, but I beg to express my pro
found and tender sympathy.
I would I might do something to help you bear this great
sorrow, but the pity of it is that all human aid is impotent.
May God comfort and keep you!
Yours ever sincerely,
Edward T. Bartlett.
Mrs. Abraham Lansing.

New Brunswick, Oct. 9, 1899.
Dear Mrs. Lansing :
Several days ago I saw a notice in the New York papers
of the death of Mr. Lansing; but I have not yet heard any
thing concerning the causes which led to this most lamentable
event. I need not tell you, dear Mrs. Lansing, how this
death of my old friend has shocked me. It was one of the
principal things in our delightful residence in Albany to have
always counted yourself and Mr. Lansing among our warmest
friends. He was so true and sincere, so ready and efficient
to help his friends, so sound in his judgment of men and
things, that he was the man above all others to whom one
would turn in any question of doubt or difficulty. How many

LETTERS 31
times I have sought him out and found satisfaction in his
kind and sensible advice ! His experience in public affairs, his
high-toned standard of action, his amiable and persuasive
personality made him everywhere loved and esteemed. Albany
will be to me a different place, wanting in one of its most
attractive features, now that his engaging presence is no
longer there.
Dear Mrs. Lansing, after I have read over these lines that
I have written, it seems almost selfish to dwell thus upon the
loss of others, and forget your deep and overwhelming sense
of bereavement. What is all this sorrow of others compared
with your unutterable loss ? You, who have parted with your
best and closest friend! Your one reliance in every circum
stance, the joy of your life and the sympathizer in every sor
row! What can we say that can comfort or reassure you? If it
is any mitigation of your grief to know that we sympathize
with you and mourn the death of one whom we loved and
admired, of that we can confidently assure you.
Mrs. Murray, who joins me in affectionate regard for the
memory of dear Mr. Lansing, joins me also in love and sym
pathy to you in this your sorrowful bereavement. May God
bless and comfort you, dear Mrs. Lansing, and may the mem
ory of the good man who has been your companion so long,
continue to bedew your solitary years with a lasting bene
diction ! Very sincerely yours,
David Murray.
Mrs. A. Lansing, Albany.

32 ABRAHAM LANSING
Bishop's House, Albany, N. Y.
Dear Mrs. Lansing :
I have come back here only for one night to find that the
shadow of the great sorrow has fallen upon you. I am obliged
to be away from Albany to-morrow and to-day so that I
cannot come in person to assure you of my very true sym
pathy. So I hope you will allow me as one who has had share
in the joys and sorrows of your life to tell you how truly I
feel for you and pray God to bless and comfort you.
Very faithfully, your friend,
Wm. Croswell Doane.
Oct. 4, 1899.

New York, Oct. 4, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing:
I was much moved and affected by reading in the papers,
while on my way here, of the death of Mr. Lansing. Since I
saw him in the hospital I have thought that this might happen,
but I have hoped that there might be a restoration to health
and that he might be long with us. I first knew Mr. Lansing
familiarly and well in 1882 when he was in the Senate and I
in the Assembly. Since then I have met him and been asso
ciated with him in a business way. I had learned to love him
as a friend as well as to respect him as a citizen and a lawyer.
It may be grateful to you that I recall what Daniel Manning
once said to me, "It is worth while to get into politics and

LETTERS 33
to be in politics if only to be associated with such a man as
Abraham Lansing."
I shall consider my acquaintance with Mr. Lansing as one
of the pleasant episodes of my life. But in saying all this I
say nothing to lighten the burden of grief that you must bear
alone. I can say that I sympathize with you, but all that I can
say means nothing but words— words— mere words.
My dear Mrs. Lansing, believe me that I mean, though I
cannot say, more than words. It may seem to you perfunctory
for me to say that you may command me if I can be of service
to you, yet what more can I say or do?
We need not pray for the repose of his soul, for he is for
ever at rest. If at rest without knowledge of the past we
cannot help it, but still he is at rest. If he lies in another and
an eternal world, you can look forward to a happy reunion
with him, and in the other world you can be sure that his
works do follow him. I sympathize with you and wish I could
say words to comfort you, but words are merely words.
With heartfelt sympathy, sincerely yours,
C. E. Patterson.

Dudley Observatory, Oct. 4, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
Mrs. Boss joins me in heartfelt condolence with you in
the great loss you have experienced to-day. Mr. Lansing's
death will be felt by the whole community in which he was

34 ABRAHAM LANSING
held in the highest esteem, as I have had frequent occasion
to know.
I have heard almost daily reports as to the progress of his
illness, and, therefore, I was not wholly unprepared for the
sad news to-day.
I wish to assure you that I feel Mr. Lansing's death as a
personal loss, and while I have secluded myself in my work
for the past few years, the result has been to have always with
me a keen appreciation and gratitude as to the friends, like
Mr. Lansing, who have done so much to help this institution
and so much to make my life pleasant.
I fervently hope that you will find strength and consolation
to enable you to bear up under your sad bereavement.
Your sincere friend,
Lewis Boss.

Loomis Hill Farm,
Onondaga, Oct. 15, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
I thank you sincerely for sending me the tributes of the
press and of various organizations with which he was asso
ciated, of the dear one who has gone. They are appreciative
of the public work which he did, and reflect the high esteem
in which he was held by his fellow citizens; but they cannot
tell how tenderly he was beloved by those who were privileged
to know him well. I can truly say that it has not been my lot

LETTERS 35
to know a truer, a more honorable or gentler spirit than his.
There come to me many dear memories of my earlier associa
tion with him; of our college class-mates, he was by far the
most favored in form and features, and his outward graces
were but the index of the gracious soul within. We all loved
him. I have been able to follow his career in later years, and
have noted with pride the public honors which have so justly
been bestowed upon him. I have rejoiced at his success, but
it is only that which I predicted in the college days, now over
forty years ago. He has been manly, courteous, generous
throughout, and will be held in fond remembrance and highest
regard by all who knew him.
I cannot venture to intrude upon your grief, and offer
unavailing consolation in your supreme loss. Words are weak
at such a time and they seem to me impertinent. The heart of
the stricken one knows its own anguish and there is no balm
for the hurt even, I am constrained to say, in the promises of
immortality and the hope of reunion. Time and the memories
of the dear companionship can only bring relief. Be assured,
however, my dear madam, that my sympathy with you is
sincere and profound, because I believe I know something of
him whom you have lost and how grievous must be that
loss. We are to have a meeting of the Class of 1855 at Williams-
town next June, alas, with sadly depleted ranks, but how we
shall miss him, our latest lost and certainly among our best
and fairest ones ! Most sincerely yours,
Chas. E. Fitch.

36 ABRAHAM LANSING
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
I send to you the Minutes of the Meeting of the Bar of this
County, held to take action upon the death of Mr. Lansing.
I can assure you that a feeling of sincere regret was manifest
at the great loss which the Bar has sustained, and those who
spoke at the meeting gave voice to the unanimous sentiment
of the lawyers of this County and the State.
I desire to add my assurance of sympathy for you and my
personal regards. Yours very truly,
Wm. P. Rudd.
November the 4th, 1899.

Montreal, 23rd October, 1899.
My Dear Olcott :
I have been so completely upset by the news of the death of
my dear friend Lansing, that I have hardly felt equal to the
task of writing and thanking you for the papers containing
accounts of his death, that you so kindly sent me. They were
all read with sad interest. I had a letter from him, written
by an amanuensis at Block Island, in which he told me how ill
he had been ; but said that he was much better, and was hope
ful of soon being all right again. I fully intended writing him
an answer at once, but I was unusually busy preparing for the
opening of my Medical School and the intention escaped my
memory. One evening, going over an accumulation of let-

LETTERS 37
ters, I came across his, and at once made a "memo" in pencil
on my blotting pad, "write Lansing." Next morning I saw
the announcement of his death in the "Montreal Gazette," and
need hardly say how distressed I was. No death, among out
side friends, has for years so deeply affected me. His cour
tesy, his big heart, so constantly evinced to myself and the
other members of our little club on the river, had so endeared
him to me and to them that his memory will be lovingly
cherished by us all. If I live to return next year to the river,
his absence will indeed be a blank.
Never having met his wife, will you convey to her my deep
sympathy in her great bereavement?
If you have time I would be glad to know the cause of his
death, for when I bade him good bye on the Ristigouche, no
thought of his death entered my mind.
With kind regards, Sincerely yours,
Francis W. Campbell.
Dudley Olcott, Esq., Albany.

115 Academy Street,
POUGHKEEPSIE, Oct. $, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
I have just read with surprise and sorrow in the "Albany
Journal" of last evening the announcement of your husband's
death. I had heard nothing of his illness, and was, therefore,

38 ABRAHAM LANSING
shocked by the tidings of his departure. I can scarcely credit
the fact that he is no longer among the living.
I knew Mr. Lansing when we were fellow students in
Williams College, and held him in high esteem. That esteem
was increased during my residence in Albany where I re
garded him as one of the capital's first citizens. I deplore,
in connection with his death, the loss of a noble man and a
true friend.
To you the loss is irreparable, and in your grief you have
my sincere sympathy. Words are empty in the presence of
such a bereavement, but I cannot forbear to tell you that Mrs.
Holmes and I both feel for you most deeply in your present
distress. May the God of all comfort sustain and solace you !
With kindest regards and warmest sympathies in which
Mrs. Holmes unites, I am
Very sincerely yours,
John McClellan Holmes.

Morristown, N. J., Oct. 7, 1899.
Dear Mrs. Lansing :
Permit me to express my deep sympathy with you in the
loss of your noble husband. It has not been my good fortune
to enjoy his intimate companionship as did my brother, but I
knew him well and recognized his thoroughly high type of
character. I know that he never allowed even a shadow to come be-

LETTERS 39
tween him and the pursuit of all that is best and highest in
our nature, and I am sure that there is no man who knew him
who does not feel that the community has suffered the loss of
a man who could always be relied upon as an earnest advocate
of the best interests of humanity.
Were there more like him, how vastly better the world
would be! Sincerely yours, Wheeler H. Peckham.

Rome, February 3, 1900.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
You are very kind to write me at such length and with such
candor. Though Mr. Lansing's nature was to me an almost
unknown quantity, there was no one in Albany whom I
wanted more to know; for there was no one whom I (in
common with every Albanian) more thoroughly respected.
Were there more men of his earnest and disinterested
public spirit, we should not be behind the rest of the world in
so many respects. It is indeed mysterious that such a man
should be taken when there are so many useless idlers and self-
seekers, who lower the standards of life and leave the world
no whit better for having passed through it. That could not
be said of Abraham Lansing by an enemy — if he ever had one.
Yours, with great sympathy,
Geo. Douglas Miller.

40 ABRAHAM LANSING
397 State St., Albany, N. Y., October 6, 1899.
Dear Mrs. Lansing:
I want to tell you how fond I have always been of Mr.
Lansing, how much I have admired his splendid manhood,
which was so strong and yet so gentle; how I have always
looked up to him as the embodiment of those qualities that
go to make the noble, pure, dignified gentleman. When you
said to me a few days ago, "He is a lovely man," I felt that
you had completely and accurately described him.
It is a personal loss to me that his elevating influence has
ceased except as a memory which will be immortal.
I am sorrowing with you, dear Mrs. Lansing, and pray God
may help you. Faithfully yours,
Grange Sard.

Oct. 10, 1899.
Saturday afternoon as I lay in bed, I took up the prayer
book and followed the church service, so as to be with you in
spirit. I will not say what a cruel disappointment it was to
me that I could not go down to Albany, for I know that you
understand that if it had been a possible thing for me, I would
have done it. I cannot realize that our dear, dear friend has
been taken from us and that we shall never look upon his like
again, for he was the pattern of a noble, unselfish, kindly,
strong Christian gentleman. No words are good enough to

LETTERS 41
tell of him or of his gentle spirit that thought no evil. I have
read the different notices in the papers, and for once they do
not say too much. ,r ,
Yours always,

A. W.

Southampton, L. I., Oct. 18, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
I have been intending for some days past to send you my
assurance of deepest sympathy with you in this dark hour of
sadness. I had not heard of your husband's illness, so that the blow
was doubly sharp. Mr. Lansing was one whom I greatly
admired, and though we saw so little of each other, I greatly
honored and esteemed him, as did all who knew him. None
but those who have passed through these same deep waters of
affliction can truly sympathize with you ; none other can know
the loneliness and the loss of one upon whom we had always
relied for advice and guidance. You, my dear friend, know
whence alone help can come to you, and you will find that
God's promises are sure.
Words are useless in this sacred hour of grief, I know, and
yet the sympathy of friends is sweet, so I have ventured to tell
you how much I feel for you. Believe me,
Yours lovingly,
Justine V. R. Townsend.

42 ABRAHAM LANSING
Lansingburgh, Nov. a, 1899.
Dear Mrs. Lansing:
Your kind letter, enclosing the newspaper notices concern
ing your dear husband, came to hand by due course of mail
and were read with unusual interest, and I thank you for them.
While my heart responded right heartily to all the "good
words and comfortable words" that were written and spoken
about the perfect and upright man who has melted from your
embrace, I could not help thinking that "the half was not
told," the half could not be told. He was a four-square man
all along the way he went to enter in through the gates into
the city that lieth four-square. He was, moreover, a man
greatly beloved by all who knew him; and I am only one of
many who leaned on him and found in him "a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother." When he was laid away in
the place of peaceful rest I could not refrain from saying the
last few farewell words, "out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh."
I do not wonder that your "home is lonely enough with
out the dear man who was so true, so honest, so good," whose
companionship was a constant benediction to you and whose
presence would be brighter than the brightest sunshine in
that shady place. But though your house is left so desolate,
and you have been called to part with your nearest and dearest
earthly friend, I think you ought to be a happy woman. You
ought to be a happy woman because you had such a husband ;
you ought to be a twice happy woman because you had him so
long to double your joys and to divide your sorrows; nay.

LETTERS 43
more, and better, you ought to be a thrice happy woman be
cause you have him still in Heaven, where he will be waiting
with our good Master to welcome you to the home that will
never be darkened or left desolate. "For so an entrance shall
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting king
dom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
Thanking you again for your thoughtful kindness, and
praying that in your sacred sorrow you may have the sweetest
comfort and the strongest consolation and the abiding pres
ence of our ever living, ever loving and never dying Saviour
who is all and in all, I am yours in the covenant "until the
day break and the shadows flee away." Alexander Dickson.

St. Paul's Church Rectory,
49 Erskine Street, Detroit, Mich., Oct. 16, 1899.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing:
My long absence from Albany has crowded out of my mind
many things, but not of you and of those very dear to you.
A notice in an Albany paper, which has just been brought to
my attention, prompts me to send you a line expressive of deep
sympathy for you and to tell you what I have often wanted to
tell you of grateful recollections of the past. The instances
of tender regard and the interchange of affection between

44 ABRAHAM LANSING
your home and those dearest to me have always been
cherished. The associations I had with Mr. Lansing, connected with
Williams College, made him feel very near to me as a friend.
He was truly a noble man. The comfort and consolation of
your Christian faith must come to your aid at this time. Your
trust will remain true, I hope, through these days of sadness.
What could we do were it not for the expectation of a resur
rection and a reunion?
You will believe me, I trust, Very sincerely yours,
Rufus W. Clark.

Dear Mrs. Lansing:
I cannot express to you how grieved we have been by Mr.
Lansing's death, or how much we have thought of you and
felt for you in these days of trial. We all consider his death
a personal loss. Our friendship began so many years ago
and has remained steadfast and unbroken, and has been to us
a constant source of pleasure and profit. I think there was no
one outside of his immediate family that my father had as
much affection for as for him. He admired him on account of
his ability as a lawyer and his attainments as a student, and
he loved him for the noble and gentle traits of character which
he possessed to so marked a degree. We have often talked

LETTERS 45
about him and have always decided he was one of the finest
gentlemen and one of the noblest hearted men we had ever
known. You have our deepest sympathy and we all wish we could
help you. You must always remember that we have not only
been your friend but also his, and now that he is gone, we
want to do all we can for you. Sincerely yours,
Peyton F. Miller.
Hudson, N. Y., Oct. 5, 1899.

Indian Lake, Hamilton Co., N. Y., Feb. 15, 1900.
Mrs. Abraham Lansing, Respected Madam :
Your letter of Jan. 29 came while I was absent from home,
having been in Canada for a short time, and was shocked to
here of Mr. Lansing's death. My memery takes me back
Long years ago when I had the Pleasure of acompaning Mr.
Lansing as Guide from Blue mountain to the Saranacks, being
the first Party that had Ever made the trip throug from here,
as we had onely Cut out a Road to Blue mountain Lake that
Season, up to that time my whole Life had been in the woods
asosiated with Lumbermen and my astonishment and Surprise
at the maners as up to that time I had not ever met an Edu
cated and cultured Gentleman, and in all the years of our
aquantance nothing ever Ocured to change the good opinion

46 ABRAHAM LANSING
that I formed of a true Gentleman as I then saw it in Mr.
Lansing, and my sympathy is Extended to you in this great
Loss, one which can never be Repaired.
I Remain Respectfully yours,
Isaac Kenwell.

My Dear Mrs. Lansing:
I have thought of you day by day since my return home and
after your great sorrow came to you. I know so well the
dreariness and desolation that comes to one when all that is
beautiful in life is taken from us, and I fully realize the depth
of your grief, and I want you to know of my deep, heartfelt
and loving sympathy for you. The beautiful character of
your husband that won the admiration of every one will never
be forgotten by those that had the honor of his friendship or
acquaintance. You have a great deal to be thankful for in the years of
delightful companionship that have been vouchsafed to you.
Memories are not satisfying but they are comforting.
Believe me in tenderest and most loving sympathy,
Faithfully, your friend,
M. Margaretta Manning.
153 Washington Ave., Albany, N. Y.,
November the $th, 1899.

LETTERS 47
606 James St., Syracuse, N. Y.
My Dear Mrs. Lansing :
We are thinking of you this bright day, when you are to
lay your dear one away, and of the deep sorrow which is
yours. Such consolation as the knowledge of Mr. Lansing's
noble, well-spent life can give is truly yours, but I well know
that the heart loneliness which you feel cannot be assuaged by
the warm sympathy which we all feel for you.
Mr. Andrews and I regret that we cannot be in Albany
to-day to add our tribute of love and respect to one whom we
have long deemed a dear friend.
Believe me, dear Mrs. Lansing, with much love,
Your friend,
Marcia S. Andrews.
October seventh, 1899.

PUBLIC TRIBUTES

PUBLIC TRIBUTES

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ALBANY COUNTY BAR
AT A MEETING HELD OCTOBER J, 1 899, TO TAKE
ACTION UPON THE DEATH OF
HONORABLE ABRAHAM LANSING

A MEETING of the Albany County Bar was held in the
Supreme Court room in the City Hall, Albany, on the
seventh day of October, 1899, to take action upon the death
of Abraham Lansing. Mr. Justice Rufus W. Peckham was
chosen and acted as Chairman of the meeting.
Upon taking the chair, Mr. Peckham spoke with great feel
ing of the high character of Abraham Lansing, of whom he
had been an intimate friend for forty years.
Mr. William P Rudd, Mr. James F. Tracey and Mr. John
De Witt Peltz were chosen to act as secretaries of the meet
ing. The Chairman appointed Hon. Charles E. Patterson,
Lewis E. Carr, Abraham V. De Witt, Isaac Lawson and John
A. Delehanty as a Committee to prepare and present to the
meeting an expression of the Bar upon the loss which it has
sustained by the death of Abraham Lansing.
The following tributes to the memory of Abraham Lansing
were pronounced :

52 ABRAHAM LANSING
Hon. Hamilton Harris :
"My esteem for the late Hon. Abraham Lansing as a
prominent lawyer, a delightful companion and a personal
friend, induces me to speak in honor of his memory. He was
a successful practitioner in our courts for more than forty
years, and became endeared to the members of the Albany
Bar by his genial manners, upright conduct and pure character.
By birth and descent he was a true Albanian. He was a
native of Albany, having an ancestry which had been identified
with the city from its earliest days and had filled with credit
many public offices.
Having received a collegiate education, Mr. Lansing
brought to the study of the law a cultivated mind and became
a thorough and successful lawyer and wise counsellor. He
was careful and conscientious in the practice of the law and
gave great study and labor to his cases. He was calm and
sound in judgment, with a firm grasp upon principles. His
arguments in the courts were well considered and presented
with strength.
The public, appreciating the sterling qualities of Mr. Lan
sing, chose him to fill a large round of important positions of
trust and responsibility. He had been City Attorney, Cor
poration Counsel, State Treasurer, Supreme Court Reporter
and State Senator. In all these various offices he acquitted
himself with satisfaction to the public and credit to himself.
As Senator he took an active and influential part in legislation.
He was zealously interested in the welfare of the city and
its institutions. His services and counsel were sought for by

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 53
its civic, business and benevolent organizations and societies,
and he became a respected member of many boards. He was
the Senior Director of the Commercial Bank, a Trustee of
the Albany Savings Bank, the Albany Academy, the Medical
College, the Rural Cemetery, the Dudley Observatory, a Gov
ernor of the Albany Hospital, a member of the Board of Park
Commissioners and a foundation member of the Fort Orange
Club. He was a good and useful citizen in all the relations of life
and faithful to every employment in which he engaged and
every trust that was reposed in him. The number of impor
tant offices he was chosen to fill and the various trusts which
he was selected to execute attest the high estimation of his
integrity and capacity and appreciation of his worth enter
tained by the public.
Distinguished in his appearance, erect in carriage, with
affable manners, always kindly and cordial, Mr. Lansing was
an interesting and companionable man. A lover of letters
and books, he found diversion from the dry pursuits of the
law in the pleasures of literature and society. His refined
tastes and reserved temperament conduced to considerate
rather than demonstrative action in his professional, as in pri
vate, life. He was a thorough gentleman by instinct and edu
cation — the type of courtesy and the soul of honor.
We mourn his loss and desire to place upon record tributes
of affection to his memory."

54 ABRAHAM LANSING
Hon. Simon W. Rosendale:
"Since the Bar of Albany County has been sufficiently
numerous to have a roster, such a list has doubtless contained
the name of Lansing; since the beginning of the century it
certainly has, and among them have been men of prominence
and eminence.
The Lansing of our time and our generation, Abraham
Lansing, was a type of man and lawyer whom it is a delight
to recall, of whom it is a pleasure to speak.
He fulfilled many duties, public and private; he was an
active practicing lawyer; he had been Supreme Court Re
porter; he had been State Senator; whatever he did he did
well. As a lawyer he was painstaking, conscientious, thor
ough. The reports of appealed cases indicate his labors; his
causes were most thoroughly prepared and successfully tried
and argued.
Recent close relations with him in a long-contested railroad
litigation only confirmed previous experiences — that he was
a man who knew his cases thoroughly and was prepared on
every point.
In his intercourse with brethren of the profession, his
courtesy was unbounded. He always manifested the greatest
respect; his manner, both to the Bench and Bar, might well
serve as a model for professional deportment. As Supreme
Court Reporter his work shows thoroughness, comprehension
of the points decided and conciseness of statement, qualities
to which reporters owe their success.
As Senator he served his term with loftiest ideals of duty.

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 55
and no measure could secure his approval which had not
passed the criticism of his most conscientious scrutiny. He
served a temporary period as State Treasurer under circum
stances which demonstrated his generosity and humanity.
As a citizen he appreciated and well met his obligations ; he
was identified with many institutions, religious and secular, pub
lic and private, such as go to make up a modern municipality.
Director in a Bank of Discount; Trustee of a Savings Bank;
Governor of the Hospital; Trustee of the Boys' Academy; in
the Governing Boards of other organizations, his was a name
on the Directing Boards of Albany's most prominent institu
tions. He represented Albany's oldest, truest and most de
voted citizenship.
He was a most refined gentleman, who in an unusual man
ner reminded one of the courtliness, dignity and politeness
of days gone by. He was a constant reminder of the best
manners of generations ago, and it would be difficult to find
a better representative of a refined, considerate, high-minded
gentleman than Abraham Lansing.
It is an oriental custom that a lighted taper reminds the
relatives and friends of the departed one. If such were our
methods, the light which would represent Abraham Lansing
would shed clear and gentle rays, recalling the placid and
lovely manly characteristics of which he was possessed. He
was cultivated in intellect, charming in manner, able in his
profession, a public spirited and model citizen.
The Bar of this county may well cherish the memory of one
who reflected so much credit on the profession and the com
munity."

56 ABRAHAM LANSING
Hon. Amasa J. Parker :
"Mr. Chairman — In adding my testimonial on this occasion
I would preface my remarks by saying that it was my great
privilege to know Abraham Lansing from my early youth,
and intimately. Later on, when I attained my majority
and was admitted to the Bar, Mr. Lansing was well estab
lished in his profession and had already acquired a high repu
tation. For upwards of forty years Mr. Lansing was a quiet, thor
ough, diligent and successful practitioner. He was equally
able before a jury at nisi prius as in the Appellate Courts of
this State. He was most painstaking in collecting and array
ing his facts ; his briefs showed a thorough knowledge of the
law, and his presentation of the case demonstrated force,
sagacity and eloquence of no ordinary character. But aside
from distinction in trial and arguments in the courts, the
great proportion of his professional career was most closely
confined to his office. This was the result of the character of
the business in his charge as well as a natural preference on
his part for quiet and deliberate work, and it was always ex
ceptionally well done. He always gave to his client the most
entire devotion, excluding all consideration of self or time,
whatever it cost.
In public life Mr. Lansing served this, the city of his birth,
and his State with the same loyalty, ability and distinction that
gave him high prominence at the Bar. He served the State
as Supreme Court Reporter, as State Treasurer, and later as
a Senator; and the city as City Attorney and Corporation

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 57
Counsel, and later as a Washington Park Commissioner for
many years.
He was a diligent and devoted Trustee in many of our
prominent public, financial and educational institutions, and
was always interested in plans for public expansion and im
provements. He was devoted to his home and friends, and while firm in
his religious views, was most tolerant and liberal towards men
differing from him.
Mr. Lansing was the embodiment of honor, integrity and
true manhood, and his influence throughout a long and busy
life was always for the good of the community, and the results
of his influence will long be felt.
Gentlemen of the Albany Bar, I can sum up all in a few
words : One of our number, Abraham Lansing, a gracious and
dignified man of the 'Old School,' upright, able and learned,
God-fearing and truthful, loyal in his belief, clean in all his
methods, full of honors, and who has endeared himself to all
who knew him, has been summoned hence and crossed the
dark river and entered into Life Eternal, there to receive that
crown promised to the faithful."

Mr. John De Witt Peltz :
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Albany Bar — I can
not refrain from adding briefly to what has been said and so
well said here to-day regarding Mr. Abraham Lansing, be-

58 ABRAHAM LANSING
cause there is a phase of his character and a range of his
activities which has not been alluded to, and which it seems to
me should be mentioned in order to present a complete picture
of his life.
Mr. Lansing was at the time of his death the Senior Vestry
man of St. Peter's Church in this city. Since 1887 he has
rendered faithful and constant service as an officer of that
organization. And having been associated with him for sev
eral years past as a fellow Vestryman, I am able to speak with
knowledge of all that he has done so well in that sphere of
usefulness. Almost the last matters of business to which he gave his
attention before he left home, upon the vacation which termi
nated in his fatal illness, concerned the affairs of St. Peter's
Church, and I well remember the force and clearness with
which he discussed them and the satisfactory conclusions which
he reached. He spoke then of other things to be attended to
on his return from his vacation, and he gave little indication
of failing physical powers at that time.
Mr. Lansing was a most useful officer of St. Peter's Church
and a worthy successor to the many distinguished and able
men who have managed its affairs in the past.
He was modest and retiring, but always ready to do his
share and more than his share of the work of the parish. He
was often appealed to when questions of policy or matters
requiring sound business judgment arose, and he never disap
pointed those who relied on him.
I can well remember occasions when his quiet and convinc
ing suggestions showed clearly the best solution of problems

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 59
under discussion, and I remember a recent notable occasion
when a few quiet words from him settled at once a difficult
question which had been discussed by others with some per
plexity. He will be missed in the councils of St. Peter's quite as
much as in those of the many other institutions with which
he was connected, and it seems fitting that at this time every
reminiscence of his faithfulness and usefulness should be
called to mind and recorded.
There is one other circumstance to which I allude with some
hesitation, but in the belief that you all value it as I do. A
dear friend of his told me that he saw and conversed with Mr.
Lansing after he was stricken with his fatal illness, and that
Mr. Lansing then said that he realized fully his condition and
knew that he could not recover his health. And he added that
he knew well what the future had in store for him, and that
he was ready.
It seems to me that no better eulogium can be pronounced
on the life and character of this noble man than to recite the
fact that, having so much to live for as he had, when the
inevitable summons came which must come to us all to leave
everything that is desirable in this world and to go forward
into the great untried hereafter, he was ready."

Hon. Edwin Countryman :
"Mr. Chairman— I heartily concur in all that has been said
of our deceased professional brother. He was certainly a

60 ABRAHAM LANSING
genial, social, courteous, refined and cultured gentleman. He
was strictly conscientious and faithful in all the relations of
life. He was, moreover, a most unobtrusive and unassuming
man. I have sometimes thought that his retiring disposition
and his disinclination to assume positions which his ability and
character gave him a right to occupy, not only hindered and
arrested the full development of his powers, but darkened
and concealed from his best acquaintances and nearest friends
the penetrating and far reaching mental force he held in re
serve. Mr. Lansing was a most estimable, highly deserving and
painstaking lawyer. I never knew a man more careful and
exact in ascertaining, or more tenacious in upholding and pro
tecting his clients' interests. He would never recognize any
distinction or difference in the duty he owed his client, whether
that client was a private person or corporation, or the people
at large in the community he was called upon to serve. He
gave to all his employers, public and private, his unremitting
attention and best efforts, yielding nothing to claimants
against the city he represented from personal sympathy or
political influence, or to avoid additional labor for him
self. His work as reporter of the Supreme Court affords, per
haps, the best evidence available to the public of his unwearied
assiduity, close application and patient devotion to duty in
rendering the official and professional services imposed upon
him in the course of his active life. It may truthfully be said
of his seven volumes of reports, what may be affirmed of com
paratively few other official or unofficial reports of decisions

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 61
in this or any other State, that they compare favorably with
the seven volumes of reports of his most illustrious predeces
sor, Nicholas Hill, who was, I think, the most expert, proficient
and consummate lawyer this country has yet produced. Most
of us have had occasion, some of us frequently, to examine
and study many of the decisions reported by Mr. Lansing, and
we have invariably found concise and yet comprehensive pre
liminary statements of all the facts essential to a proper under
standing of the opinion of the court. He was not content
to palm off his report of a decision with the stereotyped
statement of most of our reporters: 'The facts will be found
in the opinion.' We know, and the reporters ought to know
that, as a rule, all the essential facts are not to be found in the
opinion, which is written upon the assumption that the reporter
will state the material facts. Mr. Lansing appreciated the
important truth that the practical value of a passing remark
or of the statement of a general proposition in a judicial
opinion lies in the application of it to the facts of the case, and
he was too honest a workman to avoid or omit the most im
portant part of his duty as a reporter.
Indeed, he never slighted or slurred over his work in any
of the callings, official or professional, in which he served. To
use his own language on a similar occasion, in speaking of an
eminent lawyer at this bar, who had passed away: 'In the
performance of his arduous labors he seemed ever to be work
ing at his best. There was no flurry, no impatience, no
precipitancy, no importunity for delay, no want of time for
what might be necessary, no want of thoroughness in what
he undertook. Each duty seemed to be met as it arose, and

62 ABRAHAM LANSING
was dispatched with facility and with an unerring insight into
its requirements.'
It may also be said of him, as he said of his friend on the
occasion to which I have alluded : 'He was no recluse. He
loved good company and the gayeties of social life. His mind
was imbued with a keen interest in public affairs, and it is not
to be supposed that he was without ambition to share in their
preferments, and to a considerable extent he did so share,
notably as a member of the Senate of this State. But he was
absolutely without ambition to attain to any place or position
by a sacrifice or compromise of his convictions, or by arts
which would not bear the severest criticisms of honorable
men.' His life is now closed, and his remains are about to be
committed to their last resting place. What lies beyond we
cannot know. But this we know, that he has left behind a life
without a stain and an honorable name."

Hon. Charles E. Patterson, as Chairman of the Committee
appointed to prepare suitable resolutions, in presenting
them for the consideration of the meeting, spoke as follows :
"Mr. Chairman — I present this minute and these resolu
tions under the instructions of the committee of which I am
chairman. I feel that to add a word in support of them may
offend the proprieties of the occasion, but it is hard for me
to let this moment go by without saying at least a single word
of tribute to the memory of Abraham Lansing. Whatever I

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 63
may say cannot add to the weight of what has already been
eloquently said by those who have addressed you. Indeed,
I can say nothing that to my mind will materially emphasize
anything that has already been said. In listening to those
who have spoken before me, I have been much impressed with
the one sentiment that has run through the minds of all the
speakers, as expressed in the words they have given utterance
to. It is this : Abraham Lansing was always recognized as a
gentleman. In America, the word 'Gentleman' has a significa
tion that it is not accorded in the mother country from which
our language is descended. A gentleman is not necessarily a
person of high birth, or of rank. He is a man at all times of
honor, and in addition to that, he is a man that has worth
which is displayed in his recognition of the rights of others,
and in his recognition of the wants of others. Never forget
ting what is due to himself, he is always an altruist, and
regards the rights of others as equal with his own. Such a
man was Abraham Lansing. It is not sufficient to say that he
did no wrong. He was so constituted that it was impossible
for him to do a thing which he regarded as wrong. In con
nection with that, or beyond that, he always recognized the
rights of others, not only in a courteous recognition of their
rights, but in outward acts demonstrating that their rights
must be respected and that their wants were as dear to him as
the wants of his own individual person. Loyal to all interests
intrusted to him in his profession, in business life, in charitable
enterprises and in offices of State, in his association with his
fellow men, whether for purposes of business or of pleasure,
at all times he was a gentleman."

64 ABRAHAM LANSING
The following minute was unanimously adopted as a fit ex
pression of the loss which the Bar of Albany County has
sustained in the death of Hon. Abraham Lansing:
"Abraham Lansing, a distinguished member of the Bar of
this county, died at his residence in Albany on the 4th day
of October, 1899, at the age of sixty- four years. He was
born in this city, and this was always his place of residence.
By inheritance he was possessed of noble qualities, which no
act of his ever tarnished. To his endowments by nature were
added the acquirements of a liberal education. He became a
lawyer, and in his profession acquired eminence. His fidelity
to the interests of his clients was marked and his industry and
ability made his service to them of the greatest value. In the
line of his profession he was called to official positions in
which he was always faithful to the trusts reposed in him.
His worth was recognized beyond the limits of his profession,
and he was called upon to fill many places of responsibility in
business and social organizations, as well as to hold office in
the service of the city and State. His record as acting State
Treasurer, as Corporation Counsel, as Supreme Court Re
porter and as State Senator, was always clean, and in these
offices he earned most worthy distinction. In addition to his
marked intellectual characteristics, he had a kindly heart and
courteous manner, which secured to him the affection of all
who knew him. Those who did know him appreciate that
beyond the loss which the municipality and State have sus
tained, they have lost a friend. It is, therefore, now
Resolved, That this minute be presented to the Trial Term

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 65
of the Supreme Court now in session, and a motion be made
that it be entered upon the minutes of the court, and that a
copy thereof, subscribed by the Chairman and Secretary of
this meeting, be transmitted to the widow of the deceased.

(Signed.) Charles E. Patterson.
Lewis E. Carr.
Abraham V. De Witt.
I. Lawson.
John A. Delehanty."

The following letter was read by one of the secretaries of the
meeting : Albany, N. Y., October 6, 1899.
Hon. Rufus W. Peckham, Chairman:
Sir. — I sincerely regret, by reason of necessary absence
from the city, my inability to attend the meeting of the
Albany Bar, called for Saturday, to pay their tribute of respect
to the memory of Abraham Lansing. While the regard in
which he was held will be voiced by men who have known him
longer and more intimately, I am very certain none held him
in higher esteem.
So many and high encomiums have been passed upon him
as a man, that I may well be content to say that as a lawyer
in courtesy, ability and integrity, he reflected high credit upon
the Bar of which he was a member, and that his standard

66 ABRAHAM LANSING
morally and intellectually was an ideal one to which the
younger men may well aspire, while those of us who knew him
well can bear high testimony as to his worth as we mourn
his loss. Very truly yours,
J. Newton Fiero.

TRUSTEES OF ALBANY ACADEMY
At a meeting of the Trustees of the Albany Academy, held in
the Chapel October 6, 1899, the following minute was
adopted and ordered to be published :
"The Trustees place on record their high estimate of their
associate, Honorable Abraham Lansing, and their deep grief
at his death.
Mr. Lansing became a member of our Board in 1873, fol
lowing his father, Christopher Y. Lansing, and immediately
succeeding his father-in-law, General Peter Gansevoort. An
old Academy boy in the direct line of succession of two
honored Trustees, he brought to the performance of his duties
all the loyalty of an honest heart and the intelligence of a
trained intellect. He was proud of the history of the Acad
emy; he magnified its future.
We recall with affectionate interest his generosity, faith
fulness, thoughtful counsel and unfailing courtesy. While

PUBLIC TRIBUTES 67
tolerant of criticism and charitable in judgment, he was in
flexible in his adherence to conviction.
We took pride in Mr. Lansing's literary taste, which, while
it valued sound thought, appreciated correctness of style and
felicity of expression. He was frequently the orator on pub
lic occasions and always honored them by his graceful speech.
He was a well-rounded man. In manner graceful and gentle ;
in speech dignified and thoughtful; in action, honest and in
telligent. We deeply sympathize with his stricken wife and extend to
her our heartfelt sympathy. (Signed.) John F. Rathbone, President.
Henry P. Warren,
Clerk."

SPEECHES

SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LANSING

AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF THE
NEW CITY HALL, ALBANY,
OCTOBER 13, I 88 I
After Austin's Band had performed a selection, the Hon.
Abraham Lansing stepped forward and delivered the follow
ing address :
"Gentlemen of the Masonic Fraternity — In the order of
exercises appointed for this occasion, the part has been as
signed to me of extending to you in a formal way, and in this
public manner, the invitation to lay this corner stone. That
invitation I now give to you on behalf of the Mayor of this
city and of its Board of Aldermen ; of the Supervisors of this
county; of the committee designated by act of the State Legis
lature to carry forward the construction of this edifice and of
the citizens themselves of this city and county.
A little more than half a century ago, the city and county
of Albany shared with the State, for municipal purposes, the
occupation of the building which is now known as the 'Old
Capitol.' At about that period the importance and extent of

72 ABRAHAM LANSING
the business necessary for the proper administration of the
city and county affairs, keeping pace in importance as those
affairs did with the population and growth of the city and
county themselves, attracted the attention of their citizens to
the need of a separate building for its transaction, and as a
result of the consideration then given to the subject the con
struction of a separate building was determined upon.
On the 31st of August, 1829, very little more, as you will
see, than half a century ago, upon the site of this building now
in progress, and I know not but over the very spot where we
now stand, the citizens of Albany county came together to
witness, for them, an event of great interest and significance,
the laying of the corner stone of the new building. Here they
stood in the sunlight of those hopeful and prosperous days,
looking down towards the river, over a goodly number of
dwellings and buildings to the east, but to the immediate west
looking over what must have been almost a rural suburb of
the city.
The completion of that building marked the separation of
the city and county from the State, in the sense of a division
of their interests in the same halls for legislative and business
purposes; and in that building the city and county long en
joyed the comforts and conveniences of the accommodations
which it afforded. Before, however, the half century had run
its course, and while it was in the last year of its fulfillment, by
a casualty, as to the origin of which there remains to this day
a doubt, that building was destroyed. Through the efforts
of a competent and vigorous fire department, working under
the disadvantage of the cold and ice of a severe winter's night.

SPEECHES 73
the important records and the historic pictures of so much
value to us were rescued, and are to find a place, as we fondly
trust, in this new structure.
During the period in which this earlier building had been in
use by us, the State of New York, advancing by rapid strides
in wealth and prosperity, began the erection of a new building
for its State capital. The building now in progress and ap
proaching, as we earnestly trust, its completion, is upon a scale
of greatness and grandeur without rival on this continent and
attests in a signal manner the pride of our legislators in the
greatness, the dignity and importance of our State.
Upon the destruction of their building, already referred to,
movements were at once made by the citizens of this city and
county for the erection of a new building to supply its place.
There were no funds provided for that purpose and the muni
cipal authorities had not the authority to obtain them. In
this situation of affairs, our citizens themselves made applica
tion to the State Legislature and obtained from it the right to
be taxed in their property and estates, to the extent necessary
for the accomplishment of their wishes. This application met
with favorable consideration, and as a result a committee of
citizens of the city and county, in whom the entire community
have unquestioned confidence, were designated to provide for
the accomplishment of the enterprise, and the necessary power
was conferred on the proper municipal authorities to provide
for its expense, within reasonable prescribed limits, by
taxation. This committee entered heartily and intelligently into the
work, and as the result of their labors, guided by accomplished

74 ABRAHAM LANSING
architects and aided by skilled workmen, they have brought
this structure so far in its progress towards completion, that
to-day we are able to assemble to witness those ceremonies so
admirable and expressive and appropriate when performed, as
it is the custom they shall be, by your ancient order — the
ceremonies appropriate to the laying of its corner stone.
It was natural, in view of all that had been undertaken and
was intended by the State, in such close proximity to this site,
that the people of this community should be desirous, within
the reasonable limit of their means, to erect an edifice worthy
of the capital of the State, as well as a county embracing, with
its thriving towns and villages, two distinct municipalities in
its limits, and a population representing in a large degree the
interests of agriculture, of manufacture and of trade and
commerce. Such a building, we may confidently assert, this
building, on the foundation of which we stand, is to be. The
designer has done his work with excelling taste and ability.
The builders have supplemented his labors with admirable
skill, and we stand to-day, citizens of this county, proud of
the enterprise and of the edifice, which we picture to ourselves
in the near future.
Gentlemen of the Masonic order : The erection of a public
building is always a matter of great public interest. The con
templation of suitable structures for public uses, when built
within the public resources and with the cordial sympathy and
co-operation of the public interested as this will have been, is
certainly both beneficial and gratifying.
The interest felt in this building is peculiar. It is the off
spring of the voluntary choice and wish of the community,

SPEECHES 75
each member of which has, and feels that he has, a part and
personal concern in it, and so, necessarily, he must have. It
is to be the hall of its records, the repository of much that is
valuable in the past and of much, we fondly hope, which will
be of value to us in the coming time. Its roof will cover the
halls of its local legislatures, both that of the county and of the
city — those local legislatures the wisdom or mistakes of whose
enactments will so materially affect us in our prosperity and
happiness. It will contain the local halls of civil and criminal
justice, to whose decrees we shall look for the protection of
our rights of person and of property. It will be, in fine, the
seat of the dispensation of our local government in its different
branches, and in that respect the common centre of those trans
actions which mutually concern us.
As a part of the ceremonies which you are expected to per
form, I understand that you are to test the accuracy of a part
of this work and to pass upon the fitness of this stone for the
chief place in the structure. We invite you to critical tests
and to searching examinations, and as you shall find the work
of these builders true and worthy, so may those who are in
time to occupy this building, work well and skillfully for the
honor, the prosperity and happiness of this community.
Gentlemen, it seems most fitting that your ancient and hon
orable fraternity should be invited to perform the ceremonies
of laying the corner stone of the new city hall at Albany, and
this I now invite you to do with the usual forms of Masonry."

76 ABRAHAM LANSING

THE RAILROAD COMMISSION
WHY THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE ALLOWED A VOICE
IN THEIR SELECTION
REMARKS OF SENATOR ABRAHAM LANSING OF ALBANY
The following is the speech delivered by Senator Lansing in
the Senate May 4, 1882, on the Railroad Commission bill:
"Mr. Chairman — No amendment has thus far been offered
to the bill under discussion, excepting the amendment of the
Senator from the Fourth, by which he proposes to substitute
in the place of a commission appointable under certain restric
tions by the Governor, a commission elective by the people,
so that at this time the question before the Senate is purely
one as to the method of choosing the commissioners. I have
no set or methodical speech to make on this question, nor do
I think that it is altogether profitable to spend much time in
its discussion in the hope of influencing the determination at
which the Senate shall ultimately arrive. If I am not mis
taken in judging of the temper and disposition of the Senate,
a conclusion had already been reached when this discussion
began. There is a certain inexorable policy of party, which
recognizes no law but the law of party interests and leaves
no margin for individual discretion, which ordinarily governs
in the decision of questions of this character, and whether an
alliance such as has been suggested exists here or not, or
whether existing, it does or does not go to the extent of decid-

SPEECHES 77
ing such matters by actual caucus— there can be but little
doubt but that party policy will decide, or rather has already
decided, what the action of the Senate on this question is to be.
This discussion has taken a wide range and has induced a
great variety of suggestions upon matters which seem to have
but little, if any, relevancy to the subject under consideration.
The Senator from the Twenty-ninth, who has just taken his
seat, has referred us to the arguments offered by the Senator
from the Sixth as decisive upon the merits of his side of the
question, and I believe the Senator from the Sixth has summed
up to the Senate about all which can be said in the way of
argument on that side, together with many other matters
which do not strike me as arguments, at least upon the merits
of this bill. The Senator from the Sixth seems to have come
to the Senate with something upon his mind, growing out of
the attitude which he occupied, or was about to take, to that
party which he was then believed to represent. He seems to
have considered that there was something in that attitude
which required explanation, and if he has not set himself right
before us and before the public, it is certainly not because the
Senate has not accorded to him a most patient, if not a willing,
hearing of all that he has had to say on the subject. I will
not attempt to follow the Senator through all the winds and
turnings of his earlier remarks and of those made in this
debate in explanation of his course politically. I wish to refer
merely to that general current of suggestion or argument
which seemed to run through and underlie his remarks, or ex
culpation, if it may be so termed. Its logical inference and
result seemed to me something like this, as if he had said : 'In

78 ABRAHAM LANSING
a republican or popular form of government, I saw two great
parties, one strongly intrenched in the power and patronage
of government, the other professing to see that this power
and patronage were abused for purposes of injustice and
wrong; that false theories were fostered and advanced under
it, and the spirit of the government, wrested from its true
intent and legitimate purposes, was seeking to gain the
strength and position by which it should be enabled to right the
wrong and give back a wiser and more honest government to
the country, and I said, I have talents and ability. I have
training and skill in the handling of an argument. In the
cause of truth I can be a power for good, and in the cause of
error, too, I could, if I would, do battle effectively. I recog
nize a sense of obligation to conviction. I will spurn the
inducements of power and cast my lot with the weaker party
and dedicate my services to the cause of reform. And now
the hour has almost struck. The great fabric of misused
power is tottering to its fall. It gathers its forces about it,
and pours out its treasure for a desperate and decisive effort,
and now all depends upon my action ; standing in the very front
of the contest, all eyes are turned upon me in expectation and
hope. I realize the situation and know that upon my course
this great struggle is to be determined, and so situated I say:
Oh ! there was a man in my neighborhood who had an ambi
tion; there was a man in my ward who aspired to be a con
stable, and I and my followers, 40,000 of them, as I claim,
somewhat less than that as others claim, desired that ambition
should be gratified ; it was useful to me that it should be, and
my party had refused me that request. There was a man in

SPEECHES 79
my county who had been elected to clerkship, and one higher
in office, elected by my vote and the votes of my party, acting
under the forms of law, and within the limits, as he claimed,
of lawfully delegated authority, had assumed to discipline that
clerk, and that was offensive to me and my followers. There
upon I did not throw down my arms and surrender to the
enemy; my nature is not one which admits of surrender; but
I took with me the arms and the energies which I had dedi
cated to the service of my convictions and my party, and
while the faith that I had espoused still remained with me, I
went over to the enemy, I and my followers, and wrought the
defeat and overthrow of that party and of its cause. And
then we came with banners and with trumpets and we thun
dered at the doors of the conventions of the party and de
manded admission to its counsels, not upon the ground that
we had done so much to build it up and to advance its cause,
but upon the theory that we had done so much to tear it down
and destroy it and were capable of doing so much more in the
same direction, and we were refused admission. These were
my grievances and this is my justification.'
Well, it is said that two kinds of men serve their country or
their party. One serves because in the prosperity of his coun
try or party lies his own advantage. The other serves for the
faith and loyalty that is in him and because that country or
that party is the embodiment of a truth and the exponent of
an idea. The one uses his country or party for his own ad
vancement, the other is used by his country or party for its
honor and success. It is to be hoped that in the career of
public service and of public honors, which the Senator has

80 ABRAHAM LANSING
marked out for himself in the future, and I assume that his
career is to be both honorable and useful, there may be no
obligations of vengeance to interfere with the obligations of
patriotism, and that in the service which he shall render to the
new party with which he is associated — whether it be the
party of the new alliance, which has been so often referred to
here, or whether it be that other party which has recently
claimed to have found the true avenue to popular favor— he
may be as useful at least as he has been to the party which he
has abandoned.
Mr. Chairman, referring to the line of argument pursued by
the Senator from the Sixth upon the merits of this question,
he takes the position that it is not safe to trust the election of
these commissioners to the people because party conventions
stand between the people and an expression of their real
choice. That is to say : the Senator himself, the nominee of a
party convention, and holding his position through the selec
tion of the people, confirming the choice of the convention,
addressing a Senate composed of thirty-two Senators, each
one of whom was the nominee of a party convention, address
ing them in a State whose Governor and Lieutenant Governor,
judiciary and heads of departments are mainly elected by the
people, acting upon the suggestion and nomination of party
conventions, says that there is that absolute and necessary
evil and dishonesty in the management and workings of these
conventions which render it necessary that the Senate should
decline to vote for placing the election of these commissioners
in the hands of the people of this State. This is the main,
and, indeed, the only argument against the adoption of this

SPEECHES 8 1
amendment. The idea that the people themselves cannot be
trusted to select, if the choice can absolutely be left to them,
no one of its opponents has the hardihood to avow, and such a
suggestion is distinctly disclaimed by the Senator from the
Twenty-ninth and by the Senator from the Sixth and by each
one of the other Senators speaking against it, whose remarks
I have heard. The evils of this elective system must appear,
if anywhere, in the outcome, in the results of the elections
themselves, and to assail the elective system in that way is
necessarily to assail the conduct, or the character, of those
whom that system places in office. It is to assail, at all events,
the average official chosen by the system of election as being
unfitted or unworthy in some essential particular for the per
formance of the duties of the office to which he is chosen, and
inasmuch as the objection chiefly urged to the proceedings of
conventions is that they are likely to be composed of or
governed by venal and designing men who can be controlled
for evil purposes, I assume that it is intended that the choice
of such conventions must be of the same type as the con
ventions themselves, or of those who govern and guide the
course of the conventions, or, at least, that such will be the
case in a system which permits the election of railroad com
missioners. Now, from the logic of such arguments, we may
well appeal to the logic of facts. From the inception of the
State to the present time, its officers have been continually
elected through the intervention of conventions and by the
votes of the people. I hold in my hand a copy of the civil list
of the State, and turning to its pages I find among the officers
elected in modern times, in addition to the incumbents at the

82 ABRAHAM LANSING
present time, among the Governors, Dix and Seymour, Hoff
man, Tilden and Robinson. Among the secretaries of State,
such men as Nelson, Miller, Beach, Leavenworth and Depew.
Among the comptrollers, such as Church and Allen, Robinson
and Olcott. Among the attorney-generals, such as Dickinson,
Cochran, Champlain and Schoonmaker. And it is gratifying
to look back upon the history of the State and to find that,
notwithstanding the intervention of conventions and the elec
tive system, it has been able to fill its departments of govern
ment with men whose deeds are parcel of the history and
prosperity of the State, and whose fame is part of the fame
and the honor of the whole country. Now, I commend this
civil list to the study of those who are disposed to doubt the
ability of the people to elect honest and capable officers, not
withstanding the necessary fact resulting inevitably from our
form and system of government that there must be political
parties and that there must be nominations by political con
ventions, and I submit that if there is anything at all in the
logic of facts, the facts there found will, at least in comparison
with those which are apparent under the appointing system,
destroy the effect of these arguments now boldly brought for
ward against the elective system. And as to the appointing
system, it is hardly to be disputed that in modern times at all
events far more of accusation has been brought against the
management of appointed than of elected heads of depart
ments, and that it remains to be seen whether the change
recently made in the office of one important government
department, to suit the convenience of politics, and confess
edly not to benefit the public service, is not in fact just as much

SPEECHES 83
a partisan appointment and made in the interests of party
rather than of the State, as it would have been had the office
been elective and a change made through an election by the
people acting upon the nomination of a party convention.
But, it is said that in this especial and particular matter of
railroad commissioners, the railroads have a great stake; that
the railroads have the ability to control conventions and that
they do control them, and that in the nomination of commis
sioners they will interfere in their own interests and betray the
people, by securing their own nominees, and thus defeat the
very objects had in view in the creation of a commission. And
to obviate this objection, and to provide against this difficulty,
we are told that the power of appointment should be placed
in the hands of the Governor of the State. Well, there are to
be three commissioners, and there is but one Governor. It is
not intended to take the election of a Governor away from
the people and place it in the Anti-Monopoly League, or else
where, that I have heard. He is to be elected hereafter, I
assume, as this bill does not attempt to make it unlawful that
there shall be a nominating convention by the people through
the intervention of a political convention ; and I want to know
what provision is to be made for warding off the railroads
from the conventions which shall nominate the Governor. If
the railroads are so deeply interested that they will manipulate
a convention to nominate three commissioners in their interest,
a fortiori, I say they will manipulate a convention which is to
place in nomination a single Governor, who is to have absolute
power to select those commissioners, as he will. And the
Governor being elected upon the nomination of the railroads,

84 ABRAHAM LANSING
and in their interests, being, in fact, in the exercise of this
particular duty of his office, but the very hand of the railroads
themselves, how much more complete must be the betrayal of
the objects of this bill in the selection of commissioners by
this one authority than, under any circumstances, it could be
under the selection by the majority vote of an average State
party convention.
But I do not admit that the choice which the people will
make of commissioners is necessarily, by reason of the evils
which are said to exist in political conventions per se, or by
reason of the danger of interference of the railroads with the
proceedings or nominations of those conventions, in danger of
being such a choice that the objects of the bill will be in
danger. These commissioners will be elected by the people
expressly upon their worthiness to serve in the discharge of
the particular duties which are devolved on them by the bill.
There is an undercurrent of apprehension running through
every political convention, as to what the judgment of intelli
gent popular sentiment may be upon their action; there is a
public opinion, which none are shrewder in apprehending than
the average politician, which underlies and governs, in greater
or less degree, the action even of political conventions. If
one party shall defy that public sentiment, therein will be the
advantage of the other party, and it will indubitably see that
advantage and be likely to improve it ; more likely, in my judg
ment, than it will be to suffer the control of railroads to gov
ern its action.
Now there must, of course, if we have a commission at all,
be some method providing for choosing the commissioners.

SPEECHES 85
It is undoubtedly true that in everything which relies for its
operation upon the wisdom and justice and disinterestedness
of human agency, there cannot be an absolutely perfect suc
cess. As between these two systems, my vote is for trusting
the people. To deny the ability of the people to make the
choice is, in my judgment, denying the wisdom of our system
itself. Every line written in our constitution, every movement
and inspiration of our popular form of government, is based
upon the idea of popular sovereignty. We must be willing to
test the strength of our theories in practice and live up to our
profession. If, indeed, these possibilities for evil which have
been pointed out actually exist by reason of the necessary con
dition that there must be political conventions, and in our form
of government I believe that there must, then the argument
seems to show that the whole system of popular elections and
the experiment of republican government is a failure. This
I am unwilling to admit, nor do I believe those who argue
against an elective commission would admit it. Nevertheless,
the logic of their argument seems to lead directly to such a
conclusion. Mr. Chairman, I can conceive of powers so great and far-
reaching that they ought not to be vested by the State any
where, or in anybody, and I believe that this suggestion is true
of the powers which might be vested in a board of railroad
commissioners. I do not believe that any simile can be more
complete or exact than that which compares the railroads of
this country, in their relation to the body politic, to the arteries
of the human system in the body of man. It is almost literally
accurate to say that the railroads are the arteries of the State ;

86 ABRAHAM LANSING
they carry life and nourishment to each of its organs, and as
it is true that they carry and dispense life and nourishment, it
is also true that to impede or embarrass them in this essential
function is to disturb and disarrange the whole system, while
to destroy them would be almost as fatal in its results to the
State as the destruction of the arteries would be to man. This
is nowhere more certainly true than in respect to the railroads
within the limits of this great State, which they serve, and in
the advancement and prosperity and commercial greatness of
which they have formed and do form so essential and im
portant a factor. We have been recently talking about freeing
our canals, and we have recently passed a law liberating them
to the free uses of commerce. Why have we done this, if not
because outside of the limits of our State other avenues to the
seaports are opening to commerce and rivaling our own ? This
rivalry threatens our commercial prosperity and it enlists in its
aid all the artifices and all the wealth which the great common
carrier systems of the country can command. I believe that
powers which would enable railroad commissioners to inter
fere with the freedom of our own roads in this rivalry and
competition, so that they might hamper and embarrass them to
any great extent, should not be conferred, not necessarily
because it would be abused, but because the abuse would in
volve consequences too serious to the State to warrant such
power being entrusted at all. Upon this subject I do not mean
now to express the full views which I entertain; but I see
nothing in this bill which should at all constrain us to withhold
this commission, or which should lead us to distrust the ability
of the people in their ordinary way to elect them.

SPEECHES 87
The Senator from the Twenty-ninth has discussed at some
length views entertained by ex-Governor Hoffman. I have
been unable to gather from anything which the Senator has
read that Governor Hoffman entertained views unfavorable
to the expediency of an elective railroad commission. He
seems to speak rather of the powers of the executive, and to
express the view that those powers should be well defined,
comprehensive and far-reaching — absolute in many particulars
— and so undoubtedly they should be, but extending power for
the administration of the affairs of government to an adminis
trative officer is an entirely different consideration from
extending to the Governor the powers of appointing admin
istrative officers, which he may, if disposed, use to promote
his own interests. In saying this I mean to make no sugges
tion that any one contemplates such a thing as that, but only
that we have a theory which is in my judgment a wise one,
that in legislation we are not unnecessarily to throw tempta
tion in the way of any officer or to incur needless risks.
I have consumed more time than I intended, and thank the
Senate for its courtesy in indulging me in these hasty remarks,
and will close by commending to the Senate the doctrine of an
elective commission."

ABRAHAM LANSING

THE STATE MUSEUM
REMARKS OF SENATOR ABRAHAM LANSING ON THE BILL
AUTHORIZING THE TRANSFER OF THE GREAT COL
LECTION TO THE STATE HALL
The following speech, made in the Senate March 7, 1883,
while the bill authorizing the transfer of the State Museum
of Natural History to the State Hall was pending, by the
Hon. Abraham Lansing, will prove interesting:
"Mr. Chairman — In answering the question, as to the pur
pose of this bill, let me ask the attention of the Senate to a
concurrent resolution, which I offered early in the session, and
which passed both houses of the Legislature, calling on the
trustees of the State Museum to report what additional accom
modations are necessary for the proper preservation and
exhibition of the collections belonging to the State ; and what
measures should be taken for maintaining and conducting the
museum in a condition of greater efficiency, and for render
ing it of greater value to the citizens of the State, together
with plans for completing the publication of the Natural His
tory of the State.
In response to that resolution the trustees of the museum.
soon after its passage, sent a communication to the Legisla
ture, which was at once laid upon the desks of the Senators.
wherein they set forth at length the needs of the museum.
together with much other interesting and important informa-

SPEECHES 89
tion having relation to the subject. Accompanying the com
munication are letters from many of the most eminent
scientific men at home and abroad, setting forth the great
importance of the investigations which the State has made in
its geological survey and the great value which attaches to them
in the opinion of the scientific world.
The trustees point out the fact that the collections of the
Natural History of the State have so far increased that the
present museum building has become entirely inadequate for
their proper arrangement and display, and that more than
50,000 specimens for which no proper accommodations can
be afforded in the museum are placed in private buildings for
which the State pays rent and where they are to a great extent
inaccessible for the purposes of the museum. That the area
afforded by the present building for the arrangement of speci
mens for exhibition is about 8,000 square feet, while the
collections belonging to the State require for their display at
least 21,000 square feet and that there are no proper accom
modations where the rough work of preparing the specimens
for illustration and exhibition may be carried on.
They also state that the present museum, by reason of the
insecurity of the building in which it is placed, is in daily
danger of being destroyed by fire, while the private buildings
rented for the purpose of storing those specimens which have
and can have no place in the State building at all, or elsewhere,
where they can be properly accessible and useful, are equally
insecure, and at a very recent date narrowly escaped destruc
tion by fire, accidentally kindled in one of them ; and I may add
that these buildings are too remote from the fire department

90 ABRAHAM LANSING
of this city and of too combustible a nature to encourage the
hope that any of the specimens could be rescued if fire should
make any considerable headway there.
The trustees also point out the peculiar adaptation of the
State House, which is now in greater part vacated, and which
is, as soon as other accommodations can be provided in the
Capitol for the departments of government still remaining
there, to be entirely vacated, to the purposes of a museum of
natural history and to the security and proper display of its
valuable collections.
They set forth the disadvantages with which the different
departments of natural science, sustained and provided for by
the State, are carried on under the present system of separate
and independent work, without co-operation in their efforts,
and the greater efficiency which must accrue to them from ren
dering these labors in kindred sciences conducive to each other
and tributary to a common object. And inasmuch as the col
lections of the departments, or at least of some of them, go
only in part to the State, it is suggested that the labors of each
of these departments shall belong to the State, and, of course.
that the collections made in the work shall be wholly its prop
erty. This suggestion is carried out by the provisions of this
bill, and I beg to suggest, in addition to what is said by the
trustees, that while I conceive it to be a most important part
of the advantage derived by the people of the State, from the
maintenance of these departments of geology, entomology and
botany, that they provide for the communication of informa
tion, in reply to inquiries from those engaged in agricultural,
mining and other pursuits which are dependent for intelligent

SPEECHES 91
and successful guidance upon the solution of questions arising
in these branches of science, that it seems to be quite as im
portant to afford opportunity for personal inspection and
investigation in the general line of the science itself, and espe
cially so in respect to its manifestations under the operation of
local conditions.
The importance of a better-regulated system which shall
secure the prompt publication and distribution of the informa
tion obtained in these departments is also considered in this
response, and the inadequacy and delays of the existing
methods in these respects are explained, and the Legislature
is asked to remedy these evils, not by authorizing greater
expenditures or making larger appropriations, but by provid
ing for the expenditure of the moneys which shall be hereafter
appropriated in a more intelligent and methodical way. And
it is the purpose of the bill under consideration to place this
whole matter of the printing and distribution of scientific re
ports and papers where it undoubtedly belongs — in the hands
of the trustees of the museum.
The other recommendations of the response relate to the
publication of five volumes of works of paleontology for
which materials have been obtained in the department of
geology, and which are necessary to complete the series con
templated by the plans and expenditures of the State in that
direction. The trustees dwell with emphasis upon the im
portance of completing this work, referring to the communica
tions which accompany their response, for an indorsement and
corroboration of their views, and they ask that the charge of
this publication may be committed to their hands and the nee-

92 ABRAHAM LANSING
essary appropriations made therefor, formally pledging their
best efforts to finish the work in the briefest time and most
economical and worthy manner. And I feel confident that I
may promise for them, knowing, as I do, the good judgment,
system and rare economy which prevails in all the affairs com
mitted to their care, that no penny of the money which shall
be placed in their hands for the purposes of this bill will be
expended without need or without adequate and valuable
equivalent to the State. The bill provides for publication of
the remaining five volumes of the paleontology of the State,
during a period of five years, and commits the necessary an
nual appropriation for publication of one volume in each year
to the hands of the trustees. And it is intended that, with the
completion of the last essential volume of this most important
and valuable series, the work of geological illustration shall
cease, as that of geological exploration or survey has already
practically ceased.
In considering this latter topic it is very important to ob
serve, and I may appropriately call attention here to the fact,
stating it on the testimony of the communications which ac
company this response, as well as on the authority of the
treatises of the science, which are accessible to every one, that
these investigations in the department of geology have, to the
great renown of the State and to the credit of those through
whose intelligence and industry they have been made, resulted
in giving to that science a system which is acknowledged and
adopted throughout the scientific world, and that this system,
dependent as it is for its full development and completion upon
the proper illustration and exhibition, as this bill intends, of

SPEECHES 93
the remaining material which has been obtained in the survey,
is essential to the methods and classifications now in use in
that science. And here I shall fail, utterly, to present the
merits of this bill in this particular if I neglect to state, as an
inducement to its immediate enactment into a law, a fact
vouched for by the voice of geologists the world over, and
especially emphasized in the entreaties made by them in regard
to this measure, that there is but one man living who has the
experience necessary to the adequate guidance of this work of
illustration to its completion, namely, Professor James Hall,
the State Geologist, by whose zeal and labor it has been devel
oped and carried to its present condition, and whom I am
permitted to call, upon the authority and in the words of a no
less distinguished investigator in this branch of natural science
than Professor Barrande, of Bohemia, 'the great American
paleontologist.' And there is another fact important in this
connection, and which is regarded with deep concern by all
devotees of science, as well as by those who appreciate the
economic value of these works to the State, that in view of the
advancing age of Professor Hall, his labors cannot be counted
on for so many years that we can afford to lose any time by
delay in availing ourselves of them.
Now, I have but outlined some of the recommendations and
considerations presented by this communication from the trus
tees of the museum. I commend the careful perusal of it and
of the documents accompanying it to the attention of any one
who entertains doubts on this subject, and I trust that no
Senator will feel justified in voting against this bill which gives
form to the suggestions made by the report without having, after

94 ABRAHAM LANSING
such perusal, and in spite of it, come to a conclusion that the
measure is not such an one as the interests and honor of the
State demand.
This bill seeks to make useful and available to the State the
results of its investigations in these branches of its natural
history. It makes no new departure in legislation. It adopts
no new or different theories from those which have heretofore
prevailed. The State House has been already, by a concurrent
resolution adopted by the two houses of the Legislature in
the year 1881, devoted to the uses of the Museum of Natural
History, and some portion of its collections has recently been
stored there, and it is now proposed to carry out the design
of this resolution by declaring the manner in which the build
ing shall be prepared and occupied, and by making the neces
sary appropriation therefor. And, as to the publication of the
remainder of the series of works on paleontology, its pro
visions are identical with those of a bill which was passed by
this Senate last year, but which, coming into the Assembly in
the closing days of the session failed there, not through oppo
sition manifested to it, but because a vote could not be reached
before the adjournment. The Legislature first manifested an
appreciation of the usefulness of such explorations as would
determine the value and extent of the mineral resources in the
year 1827. In that year a law was passed, known as chapter
230 of the Laws of 1827, by which it was attempted to secure
to the State the benefit of such explorations, by offering in
ducements to individual enterprise to undertake them. The
purpose declared by the act was 'to promote geological and
mineral researches,' and it empowered the commissioners of

SPEECHES 95
the land office to grant to discoverers of mines, minerals and
fossils, other than gold and silver, tracts of land in which such
discoveries should be made, on exceptional and favorable
terms. Whatever may have been the result of that policy the
importance of such researches grew upon the public attention
during the ensuing nine years to such an extent that the Legis
lature was prepared to engage the State, at its own expense,
in regular and scientific investigations of this character, and
it accordingly passed in the year 1836 a law which authorized
the employment of a suitable number of competent persons to
make, in the language of the act, 'An accurate and complete
geological survey of the State, which shall be accompanied
with proper maps and diagrams and furnish full and scientific
descriptions of its rocks, soils and minerals and of its botanical
and zoological productions, together with specimens of the
same,' and it was directed that the maps, diagrams and speci
mens should be deposited in the State library, and specimens
in other libraries of the State. That law appropriated an
annual sum of $26,000 for four years to defray the expenses
to be incurred under it. The appropriation was $11,000 per
year more than the annual sum now asked for to complete the
series of works which has grown out of the investigations
then commenced. It extended over a period of four years,
while this proposed publication is to extend over a period one
year longer. And it is interesting to observe the amount of
that appropriation in its relation to the wealth of the State at
that time, as significant of the importance attached by the
legislators of that day to the investigations for which they
provided. I have looked to see who the men were in the

96 ABRAHAM LANSING
Legislature who gave the first impulse to these investigations,
and I find that in the Senate of 1827 there were Silas Wright
and John C. Spencer, Ambrose L. Jordan, Duncan McMartin,
Cadwallader D. Colden, Peter R. Livingston and others,
doubtless, worthy to hold seats with them in the same body.
There was not a Senator Jacobs in that body to guide the
counsels of the committee on finance, or preside in the absence
of the Lieutenant Governor over the deliberations of the
Senate. Had there been, I do not question that he would have
reported favorably from his committee on the bill, which
became a law, and voted with the majority to embark the State
upon a career of scientific exploration. A Senator McCarthy
was there, and while I have not examined to see how he voted,
I cannot doubt that he gave his vote with Wright and Spencer
and Livingston and the rest, against whose influence it is fair
to presume the measure would not have become a law.
The work of the survey was in 1840 extended for two years,
and in the latter year provision was made for fitting and pre
paring rooms for a State museum in what was then the State
Hall and is now the Geological Hall; and from that time to
this, with the annual indorsement of the Legislature, the work
of this survey and investigation has been continued by the
State. By this work its natural history, or so much of that history
as lies in the line of the investigations, has been unfolded and
largely illustrated. The proofs of the accuracy of the re
searches, and the indications of our resources, are in our
possession ; they are valuable both in themselves and for what
they indicate and determine. This bill asks that they may be

SPEECHES 97
rendered still more useful to science and to those who depend
upon science for the methods which they employ in the labor
which engages them. It asks, also, that they may be removed
from places of insecurity and from the risks which now sur
round them.
During the period covered by these scientific explorations
the State has prospered and its substantial wealth has rapidly
increased. It stands in greatness and in resources without a
rival. No one with accurate knowledge of the facts can doubt
the value of these investigations of science in aiding the oper
ations of its agriculture. How important a factor in its pros
perity the mineral resources of the State are its statistics
abundantly testify. Its iron, lead and copper and its mineral
oils, its slate and marble, granite and limestone, its salt and
gypsum form no insignificant sum in this great aggregate of
wealth. Now, these fossils which we ask you to preserve and to
exhibit in illustrated volumes were the open sesame by which
you entered to this wealth. They are the keys by which you
have unlocked the mysteries of the earth's crust, and to those
who from motives of gain or information would explore the
recesses of inorganic matter they still are guides. They have
been of incalculable value to you, and they may, if you will,
be of equally great value to you hereafter. No man, or men,
or society or other State can duplicate them. No private enter
prise can, without your permission, or should, with it, as your
substitute, make and distribute illustrations of them. The
State, crowned with the laurels of great achievements and sur
rounded by the evidences of its abundant resources, stands

98 ABRAHAM LANSING
before these mute messengers of inorganic nature, with power
to give them voice. Science entreats it to do so, and urges
you in pathetic and eloquent terms to hazard no longer the
loss of your opportunity. The economic interests of the State
require it of you. The fulfillment of the promise of a half
century's investigations, to your own citizens and the world,
enjoins it on you. The sum required is paltry and inconsid
erable in comparison with the interests involved and the bene
fits in view. If poor and overburdened, we might well make
sacrifices to such an end, and with the measure of our pros
perity brimming over, there are no reasons which can justify
us in neglecting the duty.
These results, which we have gathered, are the guides to
treasure houses of material wealth and our material interests
demand that they shall be rendered complete and useful ; but
aside from this, I think it should be enough that they are the
mysterious footprints which mark the tread of the ages, — the
voice of inorganic nature speaking in its different periods and
distinguishing them; that in the study of the problems of
organic life and unorganized matter they form an essential
part in the groundwork of a history and aid in the confirma
tion of our theories of the creation."

SPEECHES

99

BURNS IN BRONZE
UNVEILING A NOBLE STATUE IN WASHINGTON PARK,
AUGUST 30, 1888
In behalf of the park commission, the Hon. Abraham Lansing
accepted the statue in these words :
"Mr. Kinnear and Ladies and Gentlemen— I am requested
by the board of trustees of Washington Park to accept this
statue, in their name and on their behalf, with all the obliga
tion which the legacy of Miss McPherson imports. And I
promise unhesitatingly for that board, and with entire confi
dence for its successors in office, that within the utmost
possibilities of the trust which is delegated to them by law, it
shall be preserved and perpetuated to the citizens of Albany
in accordance with the design of the generous giver.
I take pleasure in expressing to you, Mr. Kinnear, the
opinion entertained without dissent by the members of the
board, that you have fully complied with the injunctions of this
behest, namely, 'to get a monument worthy of Robert Burns,
an ornament to the park and an honor to the land of the
donor's birth.' I tender to you their congratulations on the
successful result of your efficient and zealous efforts in that
respect; and I trust and believe that in it the expectation and
design of this legacy will be realized ; that here, in the presence
of this speaking likeness of Scotland's renowned bard, the
citizens of Albany, without regard to lineage, and for genera-

ioo ABRAHAM LANSING
tions to come, will not only be moved by a feeling of grateful
acknowledgment towards their legator, but to renewed ad
miration and respect for the history and greatness of Scotland,
which is the land of the birth of Robert Burns not only, but of
Mary McPherson and of a long line of enterprising and
patriotic and distinguished men and women, who have been in
the past, and are in themselves and in their descendants in the
present, a most important part of the career of this city, and
who are cherished and memorable as a most essential element
in every step of its progress, its prosperity and its renown.
Nor can I doubt that at the feet of this statue, and in view of
a work of art so admirable and expressive, and amidst scenes
and surroundings so suitable, Albanians and others who by
their invitation shall hereafter participate in the enjoyment
which this park and statue will afford, will be prompted to new
intimacy with all that is ennobling and elevating, as well as
with that which is stirring and captivating in the verse of the
bard who is more than any other the poet of unaffected human
nature and mankind; whose versatile genius enters into the
feeling of every condition of human life, and fires with en
thusiasm or moves with emotion the soul of both lettered and
unlearned ; who was justified in dedicating his poems to 'the
noblemen and gentlemen of Caledonia,' and wrote 'The Cot
ter's Saturday Night' ; who could create the scenes of 'Tam
O'Shanter' and pen 'The Epistle to a Young Friend' ; who
stirs the soul with the martial strains of 'Bannockburn,' and
fills the heart with the inimitable pathos of 'Highland Mary'
and 'John Anderson, My Jo' ; who, if he wrote broad Scotch
for Scotchmen, wrote 'Auld Lang Syne' for the world, and

SPEECHES 101
who is to Scotland surely, if not to America and the Anglo-
Saxon speaking race, the Aesop of their poetry and the
Anacreon of their song.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, fellow-citizens of Albany,
having accepted this statue, and this trust for your representa
tive board, and thereby for you, you will agree with me that
it is still due to this occasion that some words be spoken ex
pressive of that gratification which you feel in common with
the members of your board, growing out of the spirit, pur
pose and character of this gift to your park and the manner in
which the desire of Miss McPherson has been accomplished.
It is now nearly twenty years since by an act of the legisla
ture, and with the approbation of the people of Albany, this
tract of land, then already devoted to public and burial pur
poses, was, in the language of the act, 'set apart and devoted
to the purposes of a public park.' Of all the city's enterprises
and undertakings, during that period at least, it is the one from
which its citizens of all ages, classes and conditions have
derived the most satisfaction and enjoyment; and, excepting
their educational system, its privileges are those from which,
of all their adventitious rights as citizens, they would most
reluctantly part.
It was a most happy inspiration of Miss McPherson to set
up here in this garden of the people, the statue of a poet whose
songs are 'household words' in our domestic lives, and whose
lyre is also attuned so wonderfully to the beautiful in the
natural world.
It was a generous impulse which directed that, without limit
of cost, this statue should be made worthy of the man it repre-

102 ABRAHAM LANSING
sents, ornamental to the park and an honor to Scotland, and
it was a wise selection to place the execution of this behest in
hands so capable.
Much might be said on the subject which time will not per
mit, but you will join with me in saying for you, that you
gratefully appreciate the spirit of this noble gift, and that you
commend the result of the efforts of those who have had it in
charge as the perfect fulfillment of a munificent and patriotic
purpose. And you will permit me to pledge for you, to those who now
have this statue in their care, your encouragement and co
operation in maintaining and preserving it in all its graceful
outline and proportion, for yourselves, your posterity and
successors in all time."

SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE HON. ABRAHAM LANSING AT THE
SIXTH ANNUAL BANQUET OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY
OF NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 1 3, 1 89 1
Hon. Abraham Lansing responded to the toast, "The Dutch
man's Fireside."
He said: "Mr. President, Gentlemen and Guests of the
Holland Society — This toast, which is entitled to a leading
and honorable place on the programme of any proper occasion,
is especially worthy of such a position in the exercises of this
evening. It is the first time in the history of the Holland
Society that the Dutchman's fireside, in all its available

SPEECHES 103
branches, has been represented in these festivities. It has been
the president's high privilege to allude to this fact, and to
extend a graceful welcome to that fairer presence which now
first honors these occasions; and it seems to me not inappro
priate to my theme that I should offer to him, and to the
officers of the society and to the honored chairman and mem
bers of the dinner committee the congratulations which I
believe all of us feel to be due on this departure from settled
usage, which is a recognition of the progressive tendencies and
spirit of our age, and which is a promise of the excellence of
these annual reunions in the future, as it is also an assertion
of their worthiness in the past.
There is nothing, Mr. President and Gentlemen, which
appeals more forcibly to the mind than a suggestion of our
home. It is the center of man's deepest and purest affections.
It is the source of his greatest earthly happiness. It is the
absorbing aim and object of his individual and collective
energies. Our country itself is but an aggregation of our
homes and the powers and duties of government in their last
results are but for their protection. The arts of war and the
achievements of statesmanship and diplomacy fail of their
primal and real purpose if the home is not established upon a
sure and stable basis and does not find that security for itself
and for what is incidental to it which is essential to its welfare.
And to what purpose are the labors of individual man, or
individual men collectively, which do not tend directly or in
directly to the happiness and prosperity of the home? The
central feature and charm of the home is the fireside. It
stands for the glow and fragrance, the warmth and coloring of

104 ABRAHAM LANSING
the home life, its comforts and happiness, its leisure and
repose. But the fireside represents something more than these. It
stands for a supreme influence both in the history of an indi
vidual and of a nation, for it is also the true source and
nursery of character. It is the very well-spring of a nation's
life and development. And this is so, whether its light 'comes
blinking bonnily from a wee bit ingle,' gleams through the
bays and holly boughs on oaken halls or is reflected from the
blue and white tiling of a Dutchman's chimney-corner. And
when I approach this particular fireside, the Dutchman's fire
side, to contemplate it with reference to what it signifies in the
formation of character, and in that respect what it stands for
in the history of civilized man, I am sure that I exaggerate
nothing in saying that I find myself in the presence of a sub
ject which sounds the depth of a political philosophy and ethics
as profound, as momentous, as grand and beneficent as any
which has ever been evolved from the mind of man. It was
something deeply wrought into the nature of the Hollander of
the sixteenth century, which enabled him, through sacrifices
and achievements which are almost incredible and with a zeal
which never doubted through the lifetime of more than a
generation of men, to liberate his country from the intolerance
of Spain. The Republic of the Netherlands was the outcome
of the Dutchman's character, and the Dutchman's character
was the outcome of the Dutchman's fireside. Men became
capable of the heroic and unwavering fortitude exhibited in
that long and unique struggle, not merely because principles
of human right and justice were involved in the contest, but

SPEECHES 105
because those principles were planted at the root, had grown
with the growth and ripened into the strength of human life —
because they were fireside teachings. The struggle which they
made was for fireside truths which were vigorous because they
had been there inculcated, and which were strong and in
vincible because they were felt to be the truths of common
justice and the rights of man.
The triumph was not for those that bore the burden of the
conflict merely, but for all mankind. No nation lays a stronger
claim to the credit of having at the critical period and with
right discrimination accurately discerned and firmly estab
lished the just limitations in governmental polity than the
nation in whose honor this society is named, of whose achieve
ments it is our privilege to speak to-night, and the lessons and
examples of whose history we may usefully inculcate at all
times ; and in this respect, and for the boon of these achieve
ments, the gratitude should never be forgotten which is due to
the Dutchman's fireside.
The Dutchman's fireside has its history and its teaching in
America as well as in Europe. Those who shaped the system of
our own Republic were not blindly impelled by the tendencies
and spirit of the age in which they lived ; they were learned and
earnest and appreciative students of the lessons which had gone
before them, and I believe it may be truly said that he who would
most accurately understand their spirit and purpose may easiest
seek them in the precepts and models which grew out of the hon
est yearnings and principles of the Dutchman's home teachings.
The Dutch were not among the earliest explorers of the
United States. There had been many an experimental voyage

106 ABRAHAM LANSING
by the navigators of other countries — it was, so to speak, quite
four o'clock in the afternoon of those early explorations before
the Dutchman opened his eyes to the availability of these lands
beyond the seas. It is true, however, that he planted here one
of the very earliest permanent colonies, and it must be said
of him that if he formed his judgment with deliberation, there
was no error in his conclusion. His first voyage hither, made
not otherwise than in the interest of commercial enterprise,
resulted not merely in experiment ; it became a successful and
remunerative undertaking. When the 'Wassende Maan,' that
is to say, the Dutch ship Crescent, starting on her memorable
voyage from Amsterdam, to add the Hollander's contribution
to the sum of other explorations here, was tossed for many
months upon the seas and along our Arctic and northern
coasts, she stayed not in her wanderings until she had found
this incomparable Manhattan Bay, turned her prow northward
thence, and at the foot of the hills now crowned by the Capitol
of our Empire State, landed a boat's crew, made a lodgment
and built a fire. On the first of last October, possibly a day or
two earlier, it was two hundred and eighty-one years ago. It
was the Dutchman's first fireside in America and the inception
of the Empire State. If at the pilgrim's approach
'The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky
Their giant branches tossed' ;
if the Cabots found their anchorage among the polar ice
bergs on the frozen Arctic shores ; if the disasters of the early
Spanish settlements in Florida are among the saddest records

SPEECHES 107
of our colonization ; if the enthusiastic courage of Sir Walter
Raleigh and the genius of the indomitable Captain John Smith
alone preserved the new colony at Jamestown from the mis
fortunes of Roanoke, all nature held out a welcome to the
Hollanders on the upper Hudson. Before them spread the
graceful outlines of a river unrivalled in the picturesqueness
of its natural beauties. From the Narrows to the Normans
Kill the primeval forests hung all their autumn banners out.
From the shores of Jersey and the island of Manhattan ; from
the Highlands and the Katskills and the sloping shores above,
the gathered fragrance of the summer enveloped their way like
incense on their journey, and joined the red men of the wilder
ness in the welcome which never lost its friendly spirit.
And so from this first fireside began the fortunate career of
the Dutchman in America. It would not be my purpose, if
it were my privilege, to trace the history of that first European
fireside on the Hudson, but it is at least due to it that I should
say that its subsequent career illustrated the tolerant and catho
lic teachings which had their place at the Dutchman's fireside
in the Fatherland ; and that beyond all other established colonies
in our country, through its just and amicable dealings with the
aborigines, founded on the principles of those home teachings,
it solved without a discordant incident that most difficult of
all our early problems— the Indian problem; and I am sure
that you will agree with me if I add that, if it had achieved no
other renown than that of having given to the country and the
world the example and services of grand old Philip Schuyler,
it must stand forever crowned with an imperishable fame.
To follow out the parallels in the history of our own country

108 ABRAHAM LANSING
with those of the history of the Netherlands is a useful and
instructive study. Let me allude to a single one of them,
which seems pertinent to the subject of the fireside. The
Dutchmen can neither claim the glory nor share the responsi
bility for the doctrine of universal suffrage. It had been a
part neither of their creed nor practice at home. They incul
cated and provided universal education so far as it was in their
power, and they regarded the suffrage as a privilege to be
acquired through the opportunities thus afforded; but the
Dutch mother at her fireside laid to the heart of her children
that fable of the Grecian Aesop, illustrated by the bundle of
sticks, and told them that each stick, however complete a unit
of itself, gained resistless and unconquerable strength when
combined in the unity of the bundle. The teaching found
expression in a wider sphere in the 'Eendracht maakt Macht'
of Holland and in the 'E pluribus Unum' of America. It is
the principle which underlies and sustains the entire fabric of
our form of government. It is the principle of that admirable
adjustment in the powers and duties of an extended govern
ment, which, while it reserves to local care and local direction
that which is of local character, concedes to a general power
the government of matters of general concern. It is the doc
trine of State rights and municipal rights, vitalized by ex
clusive authority within their own spheres, and subject to and
supported by the strength and power of a government at large.
It was the principle underlying the structure of the Nether
lands. It is the key-stone of the arch of our own system. It
gives us our security at home and our strength and respect
ability as a nation abroad."

SPEECHES

109

THE DUTCH SANTA CLAUS
REMARKS OF THE HON. ABRAHAM LANSING AT THE PAAS
FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK, APRIL 1 9, 1 892
In publishing the proceedings of the St. Nicholas Society of
New York at its Paas festival, the last issue of the New
Amsterdam Gazette says: "Speaking of Santa Claus, the
Hon. Abraham Lansing, of Albany, N. Y., said:
'We know St. Nicholas as the patron of travelers and
strangers, in other words, as the patron of hospitality in its
truest and most literal sense. But there is another and even
more attractive and important character in which he is known
to us, and that is as Santa Claus, the guardian and friend of
children, and it is in this character that I wish to speak of him.
Santa Claus is an embodiment of human attributes and their
exponent. We may justly claim for the design and purpose,
which are responsible for his being, that they have realized in
his creation not only a pleasing, but a noble conception of
human character. He is presented to us as a pattern, not as
a preceptor. He does not simply teach the lesson of benev
olence and kindness, he illustrates them by his deeds. He is
the model of an active, discriminating, practical generosity,
imparting wholesome truths by means of his own excellent
and wholesome example. And he is sui generis. In all the
range of heathen mythology and attributes of later saints and

no ABRAHAM LANSING
representatives of frolic and merry-making and human plea
sure, he has, so far as I can see, neither rival nor competitor.
Kris Kringle is Santa Claus himself. His realm is that of
childhood and his mission is to mold its plastic mind and direct
the formative processes of its character and, if I accurately
recall the traditions of my childhood, he is the friend of all
children, but he is the discriminating benefactor of those who
are reasonably deserving. He is an admonition both to parents
and their offspring and, if the lessons of his coming fail in any
instance of their purpose, it is not because of defects in his
plan or lack of wisdom in his method. He stirs the expectant
world of childhood with the pleasures of anticipation and
hope; coming, as other substantial blessings and really great
events are apt to come, silently, he arrives on tip-toes in the
night-time ; locks cannot exclude nor doors withhold him from
his purposes. He surmounts all obstacles and fills that ex
pectant world with bright illusions which, when riper years
have dispelled them, charm the memory with happy recollec
tions and bless the character with wholesome results. He is
the joyous energetic emissary of Christmas and filled with its
spirit, and his own heartiness and happiness are an illustration
of the pleasures of unselfishness. Analyze him as you will, his
character and his purposes are without a flaw. He is sound,
honest, excellent, from his head to his feet, and his example
and influence are wholesome and beneficial through and
through. Now, it has been a fashion to make merry over the
Dutchman's peculiarities, but it occurs to me that they are
peculiarities which are capable of realizing both in fancy and
fact just such complete and excellent characters as that of this

SPEECHES in
delightful old friend of our childhood. We judge a mechanic
by his works. You cannot, as a rule, judge a Dutchman by his
professions, for he seldom makes them ; you must judge him as
he asks always to be judged, by the result of his labors. And
it seems to me very plain that no intelligence but that of a very
high order, and no manhood but a very sound manhood, could
have conceived and realized this salutary and beautiful illusion
of Santa Claus. And the point which I wish particularly to
make to-night is that Santa Claus is a Dutch creation. He
comes straight from that elder Amsterdam, his headquarters
during his earthly sojourn, and if you take away from him his
thoroughly Dutch characteristics you ruin him. If he might
be made attractive in a Quaker's broad brim or a Puritan's
ruff, he would not be Santa Claus. If it were possible to
imagine such a calamity as his figuring in the guise of a court
jester, the role of harlequin, or in the character of King Car
nival, or as the lord of Misrule, he could thus become no
substitute for himself. If you and I accepted him, childhood
would repudiate him. If with grosser tastes or fondness for
more excessive pleasures we should transform him into a
Merry Andrew or mythological Bacchus, in the bright realm
of childhood nevertheless, which holds the keys of the future
and which is the fountain-head of moral empire, there could be
no such Santa Claus and no such substitute for him.
But Santa Claus has a virility which resists all change.
Those men of New England, our brethren— because few of
us, if any, have not a liberal infusion of Yankee blood in our
veins— and for this reason it seems fair to conclude, being, as
it were, half and half, and seeing, if not precisely double, at

112 ABRAHAM LANSING
least with two eyes, and so more clearly than in the cyclopean
or one-eyed method, and thus more likely to judge without
bias upon matters affecting the separate races; those men of
New England who persist in finding the early history of this
great State in the veritable works of Diedrich Knickerbocker,
as there may be those who prefer to take the history of Eng
land from "Gulliver's Travels," or the "Tale of a Tub," and
the history of Spain from the adventures of Don Quixote, and
their knowledge of the common law from the Comic Black-
stone; those men of New England whose forefathers, aided
by the fleets and armies of Great Britain, found themselves
possessed of the power to make a conquest of this beloved
island of Manhattan, and therefore promptly made it; those
men of New England must admit that their ancestors bore
with a heavy hand upon the quaint customs of the conquered
Dutchmen. They fell afoul furiously of the Dutchman's gable
ends, declaring that they were not after the methods of New
England and out of good form, and mal apropos to the public
streets, till, yielding to the ridicule and bad example, the gable
ends and the quaint stoops and dormer windows and the red
tiling which softened the glare of the midday light and caught
the glow of the rising and setting sun faded out of view, and
the streets of New York never grew into those of a Nurem
berg, or a type of the old Amstel, or a model of The Hague.
And do as he would, the Dutchman never could prevent the
Yankee from marrying his daughters, and so was himself
changed, and his avoirdupois shrank, and he grew long-limbed
and sharp-edged, speaking with a nasal emphasis and walking
with a tread reminding one of

SPEECHES 113
"The wolf's long gallop, which can tire
The hound's deep hate, the hunter's ire."
And the isters and Schiedams became fewer, and there was
no longer sapaan at night, and the nutmegs came to have a
flavor of pine, and the wares of Connecticut and Massachusetts
absorbed the markets, until the conquerors, reflecting upon
the present and recalling the past, were able to exclaim, in the
fullness of conquest and triumph, "Nous avons change tout
cela." But there was an institution which would not go, although
it had its narrow escapes, and that was the institution of
Christmas. And there was a personality which would not
budge, and that was Santa Claus. He could neither be
changed nor transformed, nor ridiculed out of court, nor inter
married. He had come to stay, and he is here to-day, and will
remain so long at least as children shall rule their parents in
this favored city, and I think they always will ; so long at least
as the St. Nicholas society shall preserve his traditions and
revere his memory; and so long at least as the lessons of zeal
and joyousness and kindness and unselfishness are deemed
worthy to be taught.
And now to those who prefer to take the character of the
forefathers of New York city and State from the legends of
Sleepy Hollow, and are disposed to be censorious or mirthful
at their expense, carefully remembering to refer them to the
testimony of that learned and excellent and impartial Hol
lander, Chief Justice Charles P. Daly of New York, and of
that other Dutchman, the late T. B. O'Callaghan of Albany,
we may claim at least that they were of the. race which origi-

114 ABRAHAM LANSING
nated Santa Claus. And when the origin of the common
school system, or of other principles are disputed, which
underlie the government of this or other States, referring
again to the testimony of a Hollander born of veritable New
England stock, the Hon. Andrew S. Draper of Albany, late
superintendent of public instruction in this State, and to that
of another, whose ancestors came from "the banks and braes
of bonny Doon," Mr. Douglas Campbell, of this city recently,
now of Schenectady, and knowing that Dutchmen gave as
early an exemplification of those principles as any, we have a
right to say that they were quite capable of originating them
who did originate Santa Claus. The prejudices which would
have ostracised Santa Claus long since wore themselves out
and he dwells now, I am sure, in the hearts at least of all New
Yorkers, whatever may be their lineage; and, if I may be
allowed to adopt the sentiment of the poet laureate of England
in his welcome years ago to the present Princess of Wales,
"Sea-king's daughter from over the sea,
Norman and Saxon and Dane are we ;
But all of us Danes in our welcome to thee,
Alexandra."
I believe I may truly say that, while we are English and
Irish and Scotch and Dutch, we are all of us one in our
homage to Santa Claus.' "

SPEECHES

"5

RESPONSE TO A TOAST AT THE DINNER OF THE HOLLAND
SOCIETY, GIVEN IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR ROOSEVELT,
AT THE FORT ORANGE CLUB, JANUARY 24, 1899
"I am disposed to claim the honor of a three- fold announce
ment : through the programme for the evening; by His Honor,
the Mayor; and by our esteemed and most worthy presiding
officer. The difficulty in making a proper response to this toast
arises from the eloquence of the theme itself. The explana
tory notes, which accompany the toast, guard the Mayor's
prerogatives as sponsor for the city of Albany as a body poli
tic, but they do not lighten— they emphasize— the obligation
to speak of its citizens as individuals, and of that common
impulse and effort of theirs through which the body politic
has derived its character and standing. Whether the response,
therefore, should be without the limitations prescribed, that is
to say, for the city and all that the term implies, or for the citi
zen, his customs and his character — in the words of the notes
'for the city as the home of the olekoeks and gable-ends of other
days' — it presents an attractive field of inquiry and imposes an
important duty. And the obligation is in no way diminished by
the fact that it is an obligation to the Holland Society, which in
this branch of its membership has so excellent a right to speak
for those who have shaped this city's early career and history.
There hangs upon the walls of one of our dwellings, not far
from where we are assembled, the three-quarter length portrait
of one of Albany's early residents, with which I am quite

116 ABRAHAM LANSING
familiar. The portrait is of a man in the three-cornered hat,
periwig and street garb of the latter part of the eighteenth
century, a trim and decorous figure with ruffled shirt front and
lace cuffs, holding a cane, useful seemingly from its model and
caliber for both offensive and defensive emergencies, the in
evitable leather thong pendant from its top, after the manner
of those days. This cane, supported in the left hand and
turned backwards and caught under the left arm, has a decided
tendency to emphasize the characteristics of a face by no means
wanting in the indications of a resolute character, and I ven
ture with deference to add, in this respect as well, as notably
perhaps in some others, not unlike that of the present governor
of New York, and I venture further to observe, wearing
glasses as that governor does.
This portrait was painted in 1790, or within the six succeed
ing years thereafter, and the subject of it was at the time
Mayor of this city. The original of the portrait which I have
been tempted to describe with something of detail, for the
reason that it seems to present a picture from a phase of the
actual life of the city of that day, was by no means a carpet
bagger. Fifty-five or sixty years before the date of the por
trait he was born here of resident parentage. We thus carry
him back well towards the close of the seventeenth century,
and by showing the birthplace of his parents might go further
still. His children and grandchildren have gone to meet him
in the silent realm beyond the confines of earth, but there are
great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of his in
the membership of the Holland Society and they are here-
some of them— to-night, to confirm the right of the Society

SPEECHES 117
to speak for our city, at least by a sort of prescription in
regard to its early days. It is a part of the tradition concern
ing this representative citizen that he dwelt in a well-appointed
house, built of Dutch bricks, its roof covered with Dutch tile
and presenting its gable ends to the street; and there were to
be found without doubt therein, at the right season and in the
approved form of the period, the Dutch olekoeks, as well as
other incidents of good cheer and comfort, of which the
olekoek in those days was suggestive. From these outlines
may be filled in something of the details of his public and
domestic ways, which may be said, I believe, to be fairly
typical of the lives and customs of the public men and well-
to-do citizens of Albany at his time.
There are two suggestions which occur to me in reference
to the city as being apropos to an occasion in honor of the
Governor of the State. The first is in regard to Albany itself
— its history, standing and character. The other is in regard
to Albany in its relations to the State as its capital city. Some
times the duties and responsibilities of the city are confounded
with those of the State of which it is the seat of government,
and then the city is apt to get an allowance of censure, and
possibly, although less frequently, of praise, to which it is not
altogether entitled.
Some years since I remember greeting here a non-resident,
a lady, whose practice it was to return to Albany at intervals ;
meeting her one autumn day on the State's domain under the
very shadows of the Capitol and surrounded everywhere by
evidences of the work which was then going on upon it, I was
somewhat surprised at her remarking with a rather serious

118 ABRAHAM LANSING
countenance that the Albanians impressed her more and more,
from time to time, as she returned to the city, as displaying a
lamentable lack of enterprise. I had been accustomed to see
ing suggestions of that nature in the columns of the Albany
newspapers, and even to hearing them from an occasional
fellow citizen, but was not prepared to expect them from
strangers whom I had generally found appreciative rather than
censorious in this respect. Upon inquiry if there were any
matter in particular which she had in mind, I was informed
that any other city in the world than Albany would years ago
have completed the Capitol building.
Beyond question there are duties and obligations resting
upon our city which are imposed simply by the fact that it is
the seat of government. Of these obligations and duties, and
especially as to the manner in which they have been fulfilled,
it is not my purpose to speak. Whether Albany has in the
individual career of its citizens and in its public career as a
municipality; in its patriotism and loyalty to the State and
nation in time of need; in its educational and scientific enter
prises, its charities and benevolences; in its parks and public
undertakings from the days of its Relief Bazaars in the time
of the Rebellion, nay, from its earliest days to its latest im
portant project for the public good — the erection of the pro
posed new hospital, now nearly completed, for which our own
presiding officer of to-night is so largely responsible ; and in all
those respects which evince zeal for the public good, been
mindful of its own duty and honor, and of the dignity and
honor of the great Empire State, of which it is the chosen
center of government, it behooves others rather than its citi-

SPEECHES 119
zens to declare. It has always seemed to me, however, in the
light of the political history of our State, that Albany had
become its Capital City through the deliberate and sober judg
ment of those whose right and duty it was to make that choice,
and by a clear consensus of public sentiment by which that
judgment was approved. Without the adventitious aid derived
from this selection, it must have been a flourishing community.
It may be doubted, in the light of modern days at least,
whether its true prosperity has not been retarded rather than
advanced by that aid. But that it was the predestined seat
of government seems, in the light of the political history of
the State, inevitable. It was the selected trading-post of the
earliest days of the Colony; it was the objective point of the
supreme strategic movement of the armies of the mother coun
try for the subjugation of the colonies in the War of the
Revolution; it was and is the practical head of river naviga
tion; it was and is the natural terminus of each of the great
artificial waterways which stretched out to the west and north
for the commerce of the great lakes.
The seat of government in the early days of the coming
empire went tentatively from place to place — from New York
to Kingston, from Kingston to Poughkeepsie, and so back and
forth, and only came to have a local habitation and a name
when by the force of a certain political gravity it became per
manently established here. From this natural center of its
governmental power the State has risen in a rapid career of
political influence and strength and business achievement, for
which the world has hardly a parallel. The enlightened legis
lation which established our means of communication by land

120 ABRAHAM LANSING
and water; the great body of laws under which finance and
trade and commerce and manufactures have found their oppor
tunity ; the decrees of the highest State tribunals, which form
the body of its common law ; the codifications and revisions of
the common and statute law, the inspiration and model of so
much that is best in kindred law of our general government
and of the individual States; and the political acts and edicts
which have sustained and rendered possible this transcendent
career have had their radiating center in this city — almost, if
not quite, the earliest of our land. We can almost trace here
the footprints of those who gave form and substance to those
movements and measures, — the rulers, statesmen and jurists
whose names and deeds are part of the renown of both State
and Nation. The interest with which these events have in
vested the scenes in which they had their source and political
being belongs to the State as well as to the city. To preserve
and cherish them is the patriotic duty of both.
These interdependent relations of a capital city and State
are in these and in other respects the proper concern of both
those who represent the State and the city which is the locum
tenens of the State's authority. That our State recognizes
the value of a suitable physical manifestation of its political
importance and supremacy is now manifest in its completed
capitol. All honor to the firm hand and intelligent purpose
of that Governor who resolutely caused the last stone to be
laid upon the final trowel of cement in the completion of the
work— bringing to this city and to the State, out of the con
fusion and disorganizing influences of more than twenty years
of building operations, the best example and satisfaction of a
finished structure."

CAMP ALBANY

££>

h^^^^^^^

CAMP ALBANY
THE following log book was written by Mr. Lansing from
Camp Albany on the Ristigouche, during the summer
vacations. It is inspired by a rare love of and communion with
nature and portions of it are of a high order of literature. As
a prelude to it the following extract descriptive of the region is
taken by permission of Mrs. Dean Sage from the book by the
late Dean Sage on "The Ristigouche and its Salmon Fishing."
"The Ristigouche River, which forms the dividing line
between the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, is over
200 miles in length, with four large tributaries, each more than
sixty miles long. It flows in a generally northeast direction,
and broadens very gradually near its mouth into the Bay of
Chaleurs. It is a noble stream, with no falls or rapids in its whole
course that a canoe cannot surmount. Its numerous windings
and abrupt turns, so favorable for forming good salmon pools,
also give a variety and choice of beautiful scenery which it is
rare to find on any river. There is no mile of the Ristigouche
above Matapedia which has not some peculiar charm of its
own, outside of the wonderful clearness of its waters and the
different forms they assume in their rapid journey to the
great Gulf of St. Lawrence, — from the long flat, where they
move with a glassy and tranquil smoothness, but a swiftness

124 ABRAHAM LANSING
that has to be felt to be recognized, to the pools, with their
thousand little ripples dancing in the sunlight, the white-crested
rapid with its waves of might, and the swirling eddies rushing
over the rock strewn bottom, where the great salmon rest on
their upward way. Of these captivating interruptions to an
uniform flow the Ristigouche has an unusual number, which
account largely for its excellence as an abiding place for
salmon. Indeed we wonder why any of the fish which enter
its mouth turn off into the brown stream of the Matapedia, or
the slender thread of the Upsalquitch."

CAMP ALBANY,
RISTIGOUCHE RIVER, CANADA.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY
1883
June 12.
Left Albany at 1.15 p. m., reached Montreal 10.20, on time.
Put up at the Windsor Hotel for the night and next day.
June 14.
We reached Camp at 7.15 p. m.; took possession and slept
in it that night. June 18.
Camp Albany stands at an elevation of some 40 feet above
the Ristigouche. It looks out a little to the easterly of the
north star. It is a building 25 feet square, with a roofed
verandah nine feet in width on every side. Its interior is
divided by a partition from front to rear into two nearly equal
parts and the partition rises from floor to roof. The easterly
half has a partition subdividing it laterally into equal parts,
the cross partition being some eight or nine feet high. It has
its chimney on the westerly side. It has a fireplace of no mean
proportions, which has never smoked to our knowledge, and
we have tested it at all hours. Its large room has two opposite

126 ABRAHAM LANSING
doors, entering from the verandah front and rear, three win
dows, two closets, side by side at the rear end, and the fire
place has a crane. The smaller rooms have each two windows.
The chimney is by common consent a good one, and the roof
by like consent a bad one, but it is well framed and the defect
is in the shingling, as no doubt we shall ascertain to a certainty
in the first hard rain. On the whole Camp Albany is satis
factory and its owners with good fortune and fair fishing lay
up great stores of expectation for rest and comfort and enjoy
ment beneath its roof.

June 27.
Larry says there is a wild man in every forest. Once on
the Upsalquitch 14 were in camp at night and near morning
they lay sleeping with their feet to the fire which had nearly
gone out. He was cold and restless, got up and looked around,
began to be hungry and thought he would "boil the kettle" ;
then he thought he would light a pipe. Meanwhile he sat
down by the smoldering fire, filled his pipe and was fumbling
in the ashes for a coal for a light, when he felt a grasp on his
shoulder. He made light of that, thinking it one of the men,
but as he looked up the grasp left his shoulder, and he found
his hands clasped by the hands of a man who had on a dark
coat which came down to the knees quite snug. The man then
made a motion as if to grasp Larry by the face, when Larry
jumped up quickly and the man had gone. He searched the
camp in vain for him. Next morning the teamster left the
camp, declining to remain in that neighborhood longer.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 127
Wednesday, July 4.
Gave our Indians some delicacies for their dinner and told
them they must have a good dinner for the Fourth of July,
and also gave them a glass of whiskey all round. Larry
declined to take any, but on second thought, being Independ
ence Day, yielded in honor of the occasion and drank the
health of the President of the United States. Thursday, July 5.
My Lord (Russell) and his son put not in their appearance,
albeit beds and right good ones were prepared for them, and
a dinner got ready which was as good, you may be bound, as
any they had : Bill of Jfare
Ox Tail Soup Claret Apollinaris
Fish Bread and Butter
Salmon Boiled, Drawn Butter Sauce
Salmon Broiled
Meat
Roast Beef
Mashed Potatoes Tomatoes Pickles
Champagne and Claret
Entrees
Cold Boiled Salmon Mayonnaise Sauce Olives
Dessert
Preserved Peaches, Figs, Crackers and Cheese
Coffee, Otard

128 ABRAHAM LANSING
Trout were reserved for their Lordships' breakfast. Sage
said that a gentleman from Buffalo, fishing Alfred's pool
below Camp Harmony, struck a good-sized fish there, gaffed
him and brought him into the canoe; after the gaff was re
moved, the fish jumped, broke the casting line and got into the
water. The next day, Florence, in a pool known as the camp
pool at Harmony, caught the same fish with fly in his mouth,
and about five inches of the casting line, and the wound of
the gaff in him which had begun to granulate and heal.

Saturday, July 7.
There were sand flies in camp this wet morning, plenty of
them. D. O. (Dudley Olcott) assumed that none would be on
the river, and went to fish in that faith, without the usual
preparations for them. Sand flies have an especial fondness
for a man on the beach with both hands employed with a
salmon on his fly. He landed both his fish in good style, but
it was a case of endurance worthy of the reward he received.
He swallowed one of the flies however. Whatever extra com
pensation there was in that, he had a fit of coughing for the
achievement. Larry says it is often a good thing to keep one's
mouth shut.
The workmen, when building the camp, dug a hole some
ten feet deep on the east side, from which they took sand, and
left the hole unfilled. Looking into it the other day, we saw
some toads, the skeleton of some animal and two mice. The
mice were a bright brown upon the back with a lighter shade
of brown or grey on the sides and belly. They had tails over

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 129
a foot in length, which dragged on the ground and tapered at
the end to a fine point, round with short hair like the tail of a
rat; the ears and head and eyes were those of a mouse; the
hind legs were long in proportion to the front, and their jump
ing abilities considerable. These they displayed in efforts to
jump to some footing on the side of the excavation, as if to
climb out. These seemed to be young. D. O. said they were
male and female, and the young had been born in the hole;
one little fellow, looking like a diminutive blind mole, ran
about at the bottom of the hole, but seemed to give out and die
before we stopped observing them. We placed a branch of a
tree on an incline from bottom to top in the hole and one of
them, the male probably, apparently soon found his way out
to the upper air on it. The other, presumably the female, con
tinued its jumping and ran about in frantic efforts to escape.
At times it gnawed its own tail, until it was chafed and bloody
in places. Going back afterwards, it had gone, probably
escaping by the branch ; the young lay dead in the pit. We had
not seen that kind of mice before. Larry says they have a
little rat or mouse hereabout as long as your thumb, but he
did not seem to know much of long-tailed mice. The skeleton
was possibly larger than that of a rabbit. Larry says the
skeleton may have been that of a horse somewhat withered.

Sunday, July 8.
The new City Hall at Albany has been struck by lightning
during our absence, and the old Capitol is to be demolished

130 ABRAHAM LANSING
before winter sets in. This means a park for the new Capitol,
and was an object of A. L.'s in the Senate last winter.
Men never breathed sweeter air or drank purer water, ate
better salmon or relished more their meals, slept sounder, slept
on sweeter beds, enjoyed more the sparkling water and the
wild woods, or the luxury of taking salmon, and of fishing in
the hope of getting them; or were freer, more contented,
happier and less troubled by care or anxiety than we have been
during this our first stay in Camp Albany. Care and trouble
and anxiety have no home in these woods. They cannot follow
one here, whatever may be their pressure elsewhere. To stay
here all summer would be a delight, but to go back to our
occupations is a duty and to return to one's family and home
is a yearning which always accompanies us and prevails in the
end over all enjoyments.
The birds sing gaily about us, the wind gently fans us with
a refreshing breeze. The woods exhale delicious fragrance.
The transparent water moves briskly over the bright river
bed. The mysterious forests, dense and solemn, send up their
incense heavenward and mingle their perceptible hymn with
the rhythm of the moving water. The roof of our picturesque
camp shelters us and the piazza courts the breeze; no un
friendly sound grates upon our ears, no uncongenial sight
offends our eyes. The day is perfect, and it is Sunday, and
we rest from our labors and our sports. Flies and black ones
float in the air, but to-day they also "give us a rest."
Bathed and shaved, attired, if not attractive, in our very
best, at 5.45 p. m. we stepped into a canoe to fulfill our dinner
engagement at six. Larry, in salmon-colored hat band, and

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 131
Barney paddled us,— the waters in holiday trim also. It
seemed as if they rejoiced to receive their burden; limpid, as
purest mountain brook, they lashed the rocks beyond and the
beach on either side as if to widen and clear our way; they
caressed the canoe with melodious embrace and bent the
paddles with complying pressure; they lifted us on buoyant
arms and bore us on with elastic motion. If they did not
delight to do us service, we might well have thought so ; nature
was so gracious and benignant. And the light waved a magic
wand about us; it painted the skies, it sported gaily on the
stream and shores, it glistened on the dark foliage and on the
bright wings of the dragon and of the multitudinous and
many-colored butterflies. It excelled itself in brilliant effects
and in the witchery which it lent to the congenial surroundings.
The air likewise, pure as the waters, light as ether, perfumed
with the fragrance of the woods ; no wonder the salmon leaped
to get it, no wonder we rejoiced to breathe it. And it was our
own water which floated us ; we coasted our own shores, but we
were not long in passing beyond them ; on our port side, Hero
Rapids carried us quickly to the stately mansion of our neigh
bor and we soon stepped out upon his wharf, and treading the
floor of his spacious piazza, entered his capacious halls. His
ample, well-appointed dining-hall, with its hospitable fireplace,
smacked of good cheer and of comfort. The dinner was excel
lent. A splendid cut of salmon, boiled, with butter sauce;
lamb, roasted; cucumbers and vegetable marrow from the
Staten Island gardens of our host, grown from English seed;
and many other choice matters beside; sherry and claret and
champagne ; Scotch whiskey of excellent quality and different

132 ABRAHAM LANSING
varieties of cigars of the best brands. A fire was lighted after
dinner and we sat about the fireplace and talked with the
ladies, examined rare assortments of trout and salmon flies and
quaint hooks and passed the evening very jovially. The young
ladies had made boutonnieres, devices of butterflies painted
from nature and scarcely distinguishable, which we brought
away as souvenirs. It was dark when we came away. We
found our canoemen at the wharf and were soon after back
at Camp Albany. And so ended our last Sunday in 1883 on
the Ristigouche.

1884 Wednesday, June 11.
Left Albany at 1 p. m. via Delaware & Hudson Railway
for Montreal en route for Camp. Day fair and warm.
Sweny and Sage came with us. Reached Montreal rather
ahead of than after time— 10.40 p. m. — found Lawrence at
Windsor; Florence came in at Junction above Waterford, by
train from New York. Thursday, June 12.
Breakfast about 9. Stores at McGibbon's, crockery at
Darling's, hardware at Crope's. Lunch at Windsor cafe,
afterwards at races, where it rained hard; dinner at 7, the
six of us at a table together. Train for Matapedia at 10 p. m.
Ticket to Montreal and return $15; ticket to Matapedia and
return $14.70.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 133
June 13.
Reached Matapedia at 7 p. m. ; found a number of mem
bers at the Club House, among others Dr. and Mrs. Mason,
Fearing, Robert Goelet, Dexter of Chicago. A few black fish
taken, but one or two bright ones. Reports from below that
fish are scarce. Four Indians with two canoes on hand for us,
with Larry at the head and Steve to arrive to-morrow, mak
ing five. D. O. is to have Larry and Barney; L., Peter and
Noel Vicaire. Steve is to cook as last year. Scow also en
gaged and ready for to-morrow by Robinson, the club man
ager. June 14.
At Club House and on river. Up before 6 — started at
8— day bright and cool. Hard, black frost last night.
Scowman Frederick Wyres. Scow brand new; two good
horses; men prompt and willing; it was well loaded with stuff
for McAndrew and others besides our own. Sweny came
with us to Harmony. Sage, Lawrence and Florence walked.
They came down to us as we rested by the shore. We stopped
at Nelson's and his wife gave us bread and milk for luncheon,
which did us good and tasted better than pate de foi gras,
almost as good as Postmaster Hyde's canvas backs. McAn-
drew's fine establishment on the Island below Camp Albany
we found a desolation ; either the flood or the ice or both had
set upon it with a will, uprooted it from its moorings and
grounded it, as one of the scowmen said, into match wood.
Signs of a new building were apparent, but on a smaller scale ;

134 ABRAHAM LANSING
a small army of workmen were visible on the beach as we
passed. At 8 o'clock Camp Albany came in view, and, of course,
to see it from below you must be very near. Battlements of
solid ice guarded its approaches and made a rim grim and
white against the river's bank 10 and 15 feet high and more
in places from Toad Brook to Hero Rapids on the Brunswick
side. The Indians with axes and shovels completed the work
which Ferguson had begun of digging through the pathway
to our house. But the old Camp, in which we lived so
pleasantly last year, extended its hospitable arms to us. The
fire had been kindled by the detachment of Indians sent before
from our scow, in the old fireplace; doors and windows had
been opened and beds of boughs made up in the room where
we sleep.

June 17.
The day opened warm; now at 12 m. Thermometer 86 in
the shade. Found it hot from 8 to 10 on the stream.
More happy, we trust, than Robinson Crusoe in the possession
of his island, and certainly more enterprising; neighbor Mc-
Andrew is fast renewing the structure which fell foul of the
spring freshet. The new boards glare out in the hot sun and
the din, din, din of his workmen's hammers resound through
the solitudes and wakes the echoes "from early morn to dewy
eve." The ducks, friends of former years, are with us again,
and Ferguson has added to his poultry yard a few geese, which
sociably float about the pools and meander upon the beaches.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 135
Ducks are said to be fond of small salmon and geese ought to
like them also. Hot, hot, hot. Thermometer at one p. m. 85
in the shade and up to 92 afterwards.
L. fished the lower pools, D. O. the upper this morning.
No fish or signs of them. In the afternoon our neighbor
fished his pool before our Camp, as he did last evening, but to
no purpose. June 18.
Another hot day. Fished the pools early and in the evening
— no fish. June 22.
Mr. Lewis breakfasted with us; day bright, fair and pleas
antly cool. After Lewis left for Wilmot's camp above at
Indian House, Dr. Mason, Mr. Pollock and another came up
on a scow and stopped. They were in good spirits and enjoyed
a half hour at our camp. We opened the locust trees and
planted them; one at the northeast, one at the northwest and
one at the southwest corner of the camp.
Larry and Peter drove stakes about them and watered them
and we all hope and think they will grow. We were very busy
preparing dinner when our guest arrived, inspected our
premises a little, said he thought the locust trees would grow.
He said also that they would grow from the seed and in his
experience you gained one or two years in the end by planting
the seed of that kind of tree; i. e., when a tree is half grown,
you make a gain in transplanting it, but a young shoot is so

136 ABRAHAM LANSING
much retarded by transplanting that the shoots from seed will
overtake and outstrip it in growth. Just after six we served
dinner on our front verandah, northeast corner. Peter built
a couple of cedar smudges and the smoke, fragrant and plea
sant, relieved us entirely of flies. We served soup, which D. O.
made a little hot with cayenne, it was remarked, but very good
indeed. Every one ate his plate with relish; then boiled sal
mon, very nice indeed, McA. said, with drawn butter egg sauce
and champagne wine and mashed potatoes, bread and butter;
then a large broiled trout, with cucumber and onion dressing,
same sauce; olives, cheese, black coffee, and cigars. McA.
gave us Carolina cigars, which were very good, and which we
smoked on the piazza until it grew cool, when we sat inside
before a blazing wood fire, and smoked some of D. O.'s Caro-
linas until after 10, when we lighted our guest to his canoe,
and bade him good night, as he moved off down the stream.
Then we retired and slept such sleep as early rising, pine air
and spruce boughs bring to good consciences.

June 24.
Rain in the early morning; overcast and showering later.
Went out about 8 a. m. ; dull fishing for L. down in Fergu
son's water— not a sign. The Kelly, small and a la mode,
and many others rode the water to no purpose. Out from
the shores, the sheep, black and white, huddled together,
looked on in astonishment; the cattle near by peacefully and
unconcernedly chewed their cuds ; the birds sang and twittered
in the woods ; the girls flitted to and fro and peered out from

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 137
behind the fences and the sheds, or walked the shore in their
brothers' hats; the showers came and cleared; the logs ran or
caught in the rocks above; the waters lashed the Chain of
Rocks and sped smoothly on as they widened out afterward.
The slides and the burnt patches, the poplars and birches,
turning over their leaves in the dull light and the hemlocks,
spruces and pines, standing dense and green in spiral state-
liness, subdued by the all-pervading hush resting on every
thing, looked on in wonder at the patience and persistency of
those in the single canoe riding at anchor in their presence
and the zeal with which the fisherman rang the changes on his
reel. Dr. Mason came down in the afternoon, paddling his
own canoe (a wooden Gaspe boat), with a white man handling
the stern. He came ashore, had his camera with him and took
a picture of the camp on the west side, in which we all, Indians
and ourselves, and rods and gaffs and as much furniture as we
could conveniently arrange, were included. June 25.
Larry says the toads are acting very strangely. A day or
two since you could not step on the shore without treading
on one ; now they have all gone into the woods ; they do beat
all the toads one ever saw elsewhere. The red squirrels are
plenty here this year ; they swim the stream and chatter in the
boughs. Some of them frequent our premises and lug away
whatever edibles they find there. They are surly visitors on
our piazza, but shy as they run on the posts and beams before
us. They are the quickest and most graceful of all the dwell-

138 ABRAHAM LANSING
ers in the forest. We invite them to be tame with bits of
cracker and sugar, but they seem to grow more timid as they
become more familiar with our habitation. An Indian appears
to have an inborn delight in the destruction of all the denizens
of the woods. Saw the new moon over our right shoulder, a
large beautiful golden crescent, as we looked from the wharf
this evening up stream. For the Indians have built two
wharves, which are a great convenience in landing. The new
moon brings high tides, they say, and the salmon ride the high
tide to the fresh waters. We must by all reports have them
soon. Steve has a maiden sister who has n children. She is
eligible as the wife of some bachelor Indian at the Mission
settlement. Polycarp's sister has married a doctor of New
York. Larry, having buried his wife this spring, says he is
on the lookout for another.

June 29.
Breakfast about 8. At 9 took our fire arms, "Honey
Cooler" and my shot gun, with D. O.'s barometer and binocular
telescope ; and Barney and Noel put us on shore at the mouth
of Chain of Rocks Brook and we ascended by the path to
Daybreak. Found the oat straw of last year's crop piled up
around the cow stable, a pair of snow shoes on the logs of the
building outside, a promising crop of buckwheat growing,
another of oats, another of potatoes and the beginning of a
new building further up the hill than the cow shed. A mighty
fine clearing and an admirable prospect there is from it to-

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 139
wards the river Ristigouche and beyond it. But it is a mighty
hot clearing on a day like this ; we made pretty short work of
the inspection and of the prospect and chose the only sheltered
spot on it, and a small one at that, for our stay there, — to wit,
a seat on the oat straw at one of the corners of the cow shed,
the door of the shed being away from the river, perhaps to
keep the cows from going to it on a day like this. Then we
found the path through the woods towards the Toad Brook
Gulch, progressing by easy stages, resting for a while by the
way at times and quietly waiting to see if some living and
breathing creature would not come out from the depths of
the forest to be slaughtered by our weapons of destruction.
We did see a single red squirrel, but he was a quick, vigorous
little chap and remained in sight but a moment and so was
not a victim. Many a black fly and mosquito and many and
many a midget lost their lives through us to-day and we were
in a frame of mind at times to have destroyed the whole
pestiferous race of them ; then we stood at the top of the slide
below camp and looked down at and over the river at the hills
which outline the more than serpentine windings of the Risti
gouche and saw our camp on its farther bank. Then Honey
Cooler waked the echoes to long and loud reverberations and
its bullets planted themselves on the shore below it, or flat
tened their noses against its stones. Then at the slide above
the camp twice he paid his respects to the opposite beach.
Then we saw the Indians at the camp. Then D. O. waved a
white handkerchief, meaning to attract attention, but which
was taken as a signal of distress and brought a canoe to the
other shore. Then we followed a path which Larry tells us

140 ABRAHAM LANSING
leads to the head of Tbad Brook and finding that it wound
its way too much in a direction from the river, we struck down
through the woods to make a descent to the Brook ; and, after
some warm scrambling through the trees and among the
bushes and the fallen tree tops, reached it, and followed its
windings to the river, where Noel and the canoe were. Barney
had climbed up the ascent to the slide where he had seen
us; D. O.'s rifle called him back. Noel paddled us down
to Camp from Toad Brook's mouth and then went back
for Barney, who descended the slide and all hands were home
again. Reaching Toad Brook, D. O. filled his hat with its clear and
cool, delicious water and we drank such a draught as only
thirsty and heated and tired men could relish as we did; no
morsel of dainty food, no ingenious compound of liquid ever
tasted sweeter. A solitary dug-out with two men lazily wound
its way down stream as we stood at the upper slide ; the sound
of the rifle aroused them and they peered intently at the shore,
opposite to that from which the sound came; not a man was
visible there or at Camp; and they drifted perplexedly past,
settling down to their paddles and the drowsy influences of the
air and the dreamy state of the river.
Larry says that the man who rode the horses, which lugged
the bunch of canoes up stream the other day, coming down
to-day with his horses, riding one of them, saw at Toms Brook
on the island there a bull moose. The horses snorted and ran
and so did the man. The moose moved not and seemed in
clined to dispute any interference with his right to occupy that
island.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 141
July I.
Another hot day. No fish in the morning ; each of us rose
one several times, but caught none. In the afternoon Mrs.
Sage and daughter Susie and all the Harmony party, Sage,
Lawrence, Sweny and Florence, came up and paid us a visit or
made a call. They were very welcome visitors. They came
in five canoes. The sun hot, one of the Indians from Har
mony, poling, gave out; they hired a substitute, who came up
with them. They had "boiled the kettle" at Brandy Brook and
were not in need of anything to eat. D. O. made some tea,
of which Mrs. Sage and some others partook and pronounced
it good. We urged them to stay over night; we chatted
pleasantly on our front piazza; the party inspected Camp
Albany and expressed themselves in terms of commendation
of the Camp, especially remarking on its neatness and appear
ance of good order, which was very gratifying. Towards
evening, they re-embarked and started down stream. We
saluted them with "Honey Cooler" and L.'s pistol as they passed
down Hero Rapids. The party had taken all told 14 fish.

July 3.
Larry says horses and cows and the like, when they stray,
always work up stream. Men, he says, when wandering, go
down stream. The mountain ash flourishes here ; it seems to
grow wild; there are several on our bank and premises ad
joining Camp. L. saw three salmon, good ones, at the head
o f Chain of Rocks this morning. Captain Sweney seemed much

142 ABRAHAM LANSING
improved by his three weeks in Camp. He has purchased
Nelson's water.
July 5.
Many good and wholesome things are to be found on the
banks of this river and in the woods about us. The Townsends
years ago reared a fortune on the bark of the sarsaparilla root ;
granting the variety which grows hereabouts to be the true
diaphoretic root, the T's might have found an Hesperidian
garden on the Ristigouche and the apples unguarded. The
sarsaparilla bush grows everywhere here; its roots ramify in
all directions.
The apple sauce, one of our best possessions, never dis
appoints us. D. O. has a genius for compounding it from way
back. He never fails ; it is ready always, fresh like the
Huyler's every morning, nay every hour, and exceeding nice,
especially when it is half peaches. N. B. Run the apples
through the colander, but not the peaches.
Easterly winds, pluvial skies, wet weather and cold, breed
ing high water, multiply the salmon and make them easy to
strike and hard to hold ; when a salmon strikes hard, he hooks
well ; he is apt to endure longer, but don't you think he is surer
game? And the same kind of weather brings such stuffs as
pork and ham and good salt herring to a good market; and
it brings comfort into camp, brightens the hearth fire and
prolongs the night consultations. It does not demand that
you shall hail the sun at his rising from your work on the
stream, or fish by moonlight. Then whiskey wanes and cham
pagne lies still and perique is better than vanity fair.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 143
The eye of the toad is famous. It is beautiful as the eye of
the gazelle, particularly if seen at midnight by a gig lamp at
its nose, and so the bard of Avon, who noticed everything,
notices the eye of a toad :
"Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head ;
And this our life exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
And so one night, as is duly recorded, the toads singing
merrily everywhere, we went at midnight and found this
precious jewel (two of them) in the toad's head, the sermons
and the tongues and the books we are reading and listening to
continually. Our toads, if ugly, are not of the venomous or
unsavory sort; lively are they, with agile heels, mighty in
endurance, wakeful ever and watchful, powerful in vocal
organ, marvelous in song; gay and sportive fellows, multi
tudinous, sociable among themselves, and not altogether
unfriendly with man, albeit they scuttle away when surprised
in great trepidation. Did not Cromwell have warts on his
nose? And what an eye had he, yet not more striking than
the toad's, and what a genius had he ! Who shall fathom the
infinitude of the toad's capacities? What a pestilence is he
to noxious insect life ! Why in London the florists buy him at
four pence each! Length of days are his also; gnarled and
hardy, like the oak tree, mirthful as the cricket, genial and
friendly in countenance, secluded and retiring in ways, numer
ous in offspring, without fear of land or water or fire either,

144 ABRAHAM LANSING
as we have demonstrated, happy everywhere, in the darkness
and in the light, little regarded, much misunderstood, the jolly
toad of Canada, let us have him in plaster, carve him in
marble, cast him in bronze, celebrate him in song. There 's
"good in everything." Sunday, July 6.
Rose early to look at weather indications. Air not cold;
fog on the hills, whether rising or falling, uncertain; seemed
to be both. Was it likely to clear or would it rain and raise
the water? Larry did n't know, I 'm sure. Peter was of the
same opinion ; on the whole the fair weather prophets had the
majority and we determined to move; followed up breakfast
with a burying of bottles, a making of inventories, a packing,
nailing, tying, labelling, filling of rod cases and trunks and
carrying to the canoes until we were ready to start. The twain
Ferguson boys were on hand ; Lewis came in on his way down ;
a hard shower came up and we had luncheon of crackers and
cheese and some potted ham, which Lewis brought and a
plentiful supply of champagne wine, which we drank out of
our flask cups. The cheese which we had brandied we left in
our closet, hoping, if it did not take itself off, age would im
prove it, and the frost.
Lewis accompanied us as far as McA.'s, where we stopped
to call; found the family at dinner — Mr. and Mrs. McA., Mrs.
McA.'s sister and the several daughters at dinner in their tent
— all in good spirits. They invited us to join in their meal.
We were to dine at Harmony, we told them, and thought we
told them the truth, and declined. It was a fine spread, and

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 145
very savory — the lamb and the green peas, the cucumbers and
the lettuce odorous with rich gravies and sauces. We took
some whiskey (Scotch), looked at the new house, now having
all its windows well washed by McA.'s own hands and three
rooms ready for occupancy and occupied. Well done, McA. !
We justly praised his zeal. We had a cigar also and then
departed smoking it. At Ferguson's found Lewis and young
Peto, who was poling his way up stream and, having lost his
goods and chattels in the Waddell fire, was picking up what
articles of comfort and luxury he could find en route. Lewis
and he were talking together on the beach. We landed, of
course. Peto had lost five and twenty dollars in silver by the
fire and seemed pretty well broken up financially. We invited
Peto to take some few things left in our camp closets, said
good bye, and the two canoes, that of Lewis and our own,
started down stream. D. O. and L. rode in one canoe, Larry
and Barney with them. Peter and Noel paddled Stephen.
Stopped and saw Madame Mowat in Sunday array, and again
at Nelson's, where Alice Mowat was with her sister ; we spent
a little time in conversation there in deference to D. O.'s rela
tions to the Mowat family and ours to Nelson.
A canoe was anchored in front at Harmony and some one
was angling there for trout. A well-dressed figure against the
light and the shore, slim, vigorous, jaunty and well-poised,
gracefully whipping the stream in a comfortable, nonchalant
way, fair to see and extremely postprandial in suggestion;
it proved to be Lawrence. We drew up in good order and he
welcomed us civilly, with one of his admirable smiles, full of
kindliness, of mischief and of strength, and came ashore.

146 ABRAHAM LANSING
Sage, Sweny and another visiting them were at. Camp and
came out. Florence had gone away with Mrs. Sage the day
before. Our appetites were sauce for hardtack. Our noses
listened for the first sweet savor from that distinguished
kitchen. There was many an expression of pleasure at seeing
us and much incidental commendation of the dinner which
had been served that day at the camp table. George had
equipped himself for the occasion, and great as his ordinary
successes are, had that day, in especial honor of expected
guests, determined to excel himself, and had succeeded. All
hands, first or last, bore testimony that Delmonico could not
have excelled George. There was a profusion of regrets that
we had not come down to that dinner, in which we might have
joined more heartily if we could have been persuaded that we
had not. In fact, the dinner hour, whatever it was, for we
never knew, had passed, and the dinner too. Six miles of
water lay between us and Matapedia; day was waning; we
would have been glad of the crumbs which fell from those rich
men's table; wine was plentiful, poured out abundantly, cold
and sparkling. Were we to starve, we who had come to be
feasted ? Olcott suggested a biscuit, and that brought about a
cold repast of lamb and bread and butter, etc., which, if it did
not equal the dinner, served a mighty good purpose. It was the
first fresh-killed meat eaten by us in three weeks ; and we left
happy in the fact that we were neither hungry nor thirsty, and
wiser for the fact that we had missed probably as good a dinner
as has been served on the river Ristigouche, above the Mata
pedia at all events.
Camp Harmony was very trim and orderly, fine as silk, an

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 147
example to the whole river. Swept and garnished well, they
said it was for Sunday and for us. From the beam, which
reaches from behind the eaves from side to side, swung yellow
bags of ham and bacon ; lengthwise at the sides near the main
partition spread the table, long, ample, hospitable, with its
benches and neat new rubber cloth. Out from the side rooms
and about the spruce-bough beds peered new crisp tarleton
and mosquito bars ; on the walls the old familiar pictures which
His Grace the Duke of Beaufort placed there and others more
recently. No display of kitchen ware or crockery; a kitchen
outside (and a stove, alas, a stove) and a servant to look after
it — an accomplished city-bred and city-trained servant, George
of Brookline and of Lawrence's household, an African, a
barber and a cook, a body servant par excellence, a master of
ceremonies, as reported to us by the whole camp, who ought
to know, a great man, and a favorite there, and getting as
much fun out of everything as anyone else.
"Sweet are the uses of adversity." Experience, an admir
able schoolmaster ever, teaches many a lesson in the woods.
Nothing sets the wits agoing like personal discomfort. Under
such a spur man's ingenuity is often remarkable. But the wit
of woman is past all comprehension. "It is all well enough,"
said one, "for the head and the neck and the arms and the
hands, with the veils and the helmets and the gloves and the
tar and oil and the carbolics ; but what good are veils and hel
mets, and how is one to use oil and tar otherwise? I have
been taught a lesson that I can't forget, and I have woolen
stockings which rise, well— above the knee, and garters at the
top of them, good ones, I assure you. Sir, you should see

148 ABRAHAM LANSING
the size of them. I have top boots and a pair of masculine
trousers and I defy the whole crepitating insective race from
a punky to a pinching-bug." "Why," said she, "when I came
untaught to tempt the perils of this wilderness I was confident
and feared not. I had veils and gauntlets and all that in
abundance, and what cared I? I put them on, becomingly, I
hope, but anyway in great profusion; then I went fishing in
silk stockings and low shoes. I had a rare experience, I can
tell you. Every power of endurance I had was strained to the
utmost. I was as decorous as I could be, but I cut that fishing
party short at the earliest opportunity; no one could have
reckoned the number of mosquitoes which assailed me in a
most clandestine manner; you could scarce have counted the
marks they made on me from the insteps upwards ; they were
a sight to see. I wish you could have seen them." The con
nection may be remote, but the recital suggests an incident
of the park. "Go," said a lady to a gentleman, "go imme
diately, call some one; a bug has gone down my back."
"Madam," said he, "had I not better go for the bug?" If the
bug had not been found, the fact would have been undoubtedly
related. Of course it is useless to look for mosquito bites sev
eral years old. ,
Larry smiled from ear to ear as he said good bye to L., and
seemed ready to launch forth, gray hair and all, into a war
dance. "What pleases you so, Larry?" said L. "I dunno,
I 'm sure," said Larry. Barney beamed, but was reticent,
though cordial in his good bye. That sort of exhilaration,
thought we, is such as champagne produces; at all events we
never saw the champagne we brought in the canoes again, or

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 149
the ale either ; and I '11 lay a wager of four half-pints that we
won't find it there next year. Peter and Noel were in better
trim, when L. paid them; they were all right and we hope
remained so. They brought Steve down, and had nothing in
their canoe of the sort. We brought it in our own canoes,
with Larry and Barney, that it might be under personal super
vision.

1885 June 11.
At Montreal; breakfast about 8.30 o'clock. Titus pere et
fils made their appearance, also Lewis, our guest for a night
last summer, and with him Her rick, President of the New
York Produce Exchange; Jones (the younger) of the "New
York Times," and a friend, Mr. Wing, came into the Windsor
restaurant while we were lunching. Two years ago we had
met Jones and his father ; they were at the Salmon Club when
we came on that year, memorable for the yield of salmon and
the large scores made on the Ristigouche. Father and son
were the only occupants of the club house for a time early in
that season, and were in luck. We had reason to remember
the younger Jones and were glad to see his genial face again.
He not only catches salmon neatly, but he brews a superb
cocktail. All these gentlemen were bound for salmon rivers;
Titus and son for the Great Cascapedia; Lewis and Herrick
for the Bonaventure, which Lewis has leased ; the rest for the

ISO ABRAHAM LANSING
Ristigouche. Were busy during the day eking out our stores
not forwarded by freight in advance and in arranging for our
sleeping berths.
The way luxury is creeping up the banks of the Ristigouche
is appalling. What with our neighbor McAndrew and his
palatial residence and the Club and Camp Harmony and its
lessees and Billy Florence and Sweny, it is reaching us here
at modest, merry Toad Brook with rapid and dismaying
strides. It looks as if Dean Sage might be left alone to com
bat the warfare on discomfort and to sigh for Arcadian sim
plicity. Well, Dean sighs and scolds, too, they say, but beneath
the spacious porch of Harmony the well-filled larder bursts its
plethoric sides, and salmon fishing is almost an incident to the
genial hospitality which reigns there the season long, and is
elaborate enough for dukes and lords. Indeed, the hardships
which Sage endures for the sake of his principles, if they en
title him ever to a martyr's crown, will not be likely to induce
him to submit his claims in that respect to a jury selected from
those who whip the Ristigouche. Go it luxury, pell mell, say
I ; let us have comfort. Not mean, miserable, self-seeking, all-
grasping selfishness, but such comfort as genial hospitable souls
enjoy and love to share with friends and strangers when they
go a fishing — comfort just as much as we can get and can
afford. After all, that is the touchstone by which Ave must test
everything, aside from moral tests — dollars and cents.
Left Montreal at 10.20 p. m. for Point Levi, by train.
Edward, the porter at the Windsor this year, as heretofore,
ran us through the Canadian custom house and had our lug
gage ready at the train.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 151
That moderate, frugal repast before a blazing camp fire was
as comforting to our stomachs, as would have been the viands
at the Lord Mayor's dinner, or by contrast was an epicurean
feast to the breakfast at the Victoria Tavern at Point Levi.
Oh! Dei Gratia Regina, what barbarities are wrought in thy
name! What reputable mortal, unanointed man or woman,
either, would tolerate the bestowal of his name or hers on
such a caravansary as the Victoria Inn at Levi ?

Saturday, June 13.
Scow ready, Indians on hand, freight arrived and express
matter. Not a thing gone wrong, excepting the crank of the
grindstone which — the crank — had its head broken. Florence
remarked that we should have no cranks in our party anyway ;
perhaps we needed none; however, that crank had its head
broken, but the treadle will answer without. We asked Flor
ence to go with us on our scow to his fishing grounds below
Grog Island, where he is to erect his tent and gather his
Penates about him alone.
It is a long journey for a scow from Matapedia to Camp
Albany against the quick water, over the stony bottom and
along the hard and often rocky beach. The iron hoofs of
the horses strike the stones along the resounding shores and
splash through the water upon the flinty bottom, while the
patient driver, watching the scow and minding the "team" and
goading them on, or cheering them and listening for direc
tions, seems, next to the horses, to have the hardest labor. The

152 ABRAHAM LANSING
task of the rudder-man is not an easy one either; the heavy
rudder plies to and fro continually, as the craft ferries from
side to side, or bends around the quick curves in the shores.
The rudder-man (helmsman) became driver as we neared the
end of the journey and the driver became passenger, save that
he lent a hand now and then at poling. Put on a third horse
on the way up) which facilitated matters and expedited the
journey. Miles, who lives down stream — one of the brothers
—asked to have a few bags put aboard and carried up to his
brother at Brandy Brook, which, of course, was assented to,
and so Miles came along on the scow with the men and did
some of the work. Miles had been at Campbleton, where he
saw, so he said, 150 salmon in Porter Mowat's ice-house— the
result of one day's work by the netters there. No salmon
there, said Miles, was under 26 pounds ; most of them over 30
pounds and several of them weighed 40 pounds. We left
Florence at his camping ground about 10.30 a. m. ; he has
leased a stretch of river there from Moor and others. We
went ashore ; the men "boiled the kettle" ; Florence refreshed us
with some biscuit and claret and we left (at 12.20 p. m.) him
there with his Indians spreading his tents and stowing away
his stores. Camp Harmony will scarcely leave him to entire
solitude, and if comforts and conveniences, comestibles et id
genus omne, can make man happy, he is not likely to suffer.
Stopped at Nelson's and took on potatoes, 20 bushels in bags,
also a box of eggs, some bread and a crock of butter. Friend
Miles disembarked near Brandy Brook and took his bags with
him, or left them on the shore below or on the scow to be
delivered on its downward voyage. At all events, Miles pushed

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 153
off in his dugout into the stream below the brook and we went
on our way without him. At Ferguson's we tarried again; a
procession of Fergusons, young and old, went to and from
the house and scow in a pelting rain with our boxes and our
barrels, our pots and kettles, our bath tub and our various
household effects. When the three horses came aboard, the
jaded animals tramped through the water beneath their feet
and the rain above their heads, through the Chain of Rocks
along the Hero Rapids, and drew the scow to our beach at
about 8.40 o'clock. The rain had ceased to fall and we made
our way to the Camp, and wasted no time in getting things
settled. So Moor was paid, his brother and men had a drink
of whiskey; the horses were stabled under the canopy of
heaven and we went to bed on the bough beds Ferguson had
made and slept our first night this year at Toad Brook, — slept
like the seven sleepers, while the rain poured without and far
into the Sunday morning.
We have five Indians : Imprimus : — Stephen De Dam. Steve
is Major Domo, Cook and Lord of the Bed Chamber, Airer of
the Blanketing, Master Stoker, Chamberlain of the Smudge
Pots, Ruler of the Ice House, Head Carpenter, Earliest Bird
of the Morning, Last Messenger of the Night, Waiter in
Chief, Arbiter of the Indian Council, and Monarch of all he
surveys when our canoes are out on the stream, and he is also
Keeper of the Keys of all excepting the wine room and the
main lockers. Second:— Peter Soque Caple. Peter is the
Admiral of the Fleet, Chief Philosopher, Major Metaphysi
cian, Expounder of the Weather Signals, Pilot in A. L.'s
canoe, Overshadowed Overseer of the camp forces, also Chap-

154 ABRAHAM LANSING
lain of the Indian Camp. Third: — Barney Barnaby. Barney
is Head Granger, Ruler of Weights and Measures, Prime
Estimator of Avoirdupois, Chief Explorer and Sachem of the
Camp Equipage, Emissary in Chief, Ambassador, Secretary of
Legation, also Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,
Pilot and Grand Gaffist in D. O.'s canoe, Chief Whittler and
Axeman and Boss Tier of Twine. Fourth: — Noel Vicaire.
Noel is Prince of the Anchor Ropes, Caster and Stayer of the
Sheet Anchor, Strategist and advance picket in Warfare with
the Log navy, also Sovereign and sole Gaffer — his domain is
limited to L.'s canoe. Fifth : — Louis Michir. Louis is a puzzle
unsolved ; whatever language he speaks, he uses but little of it.
He can smile peacefully — has a set of handsome white teeth
and hair as black as night and stiff as wire — he wears a shirt
as red as carnage — he is also a pilot of bow oar — head centre
of ropes — Caster of the Sheet Anchor, Advance Guard in the
onset of logs in D. O.'s canoe. With this complement of men,
our domestic interests are served and our canoes manned.
Larry is dead, and with him dies much special and valuable
knowledge of these woods and the Ristigouche. A connect
ing link between the present and the past is now gone. Larry
seems to have died a victim to his taste for fire-water. His
last days, according to Barney's account, were cheerless
enough. His continued inebriety led to neglect of all the little
precautions, which an Indian naturally takes, and he died
from cold, produced by exposure. Barney says his friends
were alienated from him by his conduct. Larry had lost his
wife just before he came up here with us last year; no doubt
her care and restraint would have exerted a better influence

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 155
upon him. Larry had no children, but he had adopted, he
and his wife, a little girl who became the wife of our man
Steve. So Larry took Steve to live with him last winter, but
in his prolonged orgies drove him out into the winter's cold,
creating, it would seem, much feeling at the Mission. Barney
tells us that scarce any went to the funeral.

June 14.
Order was to be made out of the chaos upon which the
Sunday dawned at Camp Albany. The day was bright and
warm and we fell to work until the whole artillery of the camp
had been unlimbered and all its ammunition stored away, so
that we were in fair plight for the season's campaign. The
grass had grown nicely over the whole clearing; the foliage
in the woods is unusually fresh and green this year; the river
full and lively, clear but not quite settled from the rain. Camp
Albany had survived the winter without a scratch. They say,
Ferguson and his boys, that it was bedded in snow to its
eaves. Its roof must have looked like the summit of Old
Squaw's Cap down the river when in the dead of the Canadian
winter she rears her snow-clad peak high heavenward.
Barney was eight years a sailor in the merchant service.
He had one voyage in a Norwegian vessel, but abandoned
that particular service because he did not speak that language
very snug, and because he did not understand it at all. When
the order came, "Batten down the hatches, throw overboard
the diamonds," in good Norwegian, Barney, with ready in
stinct and quick intelligence, looked over the situation, knew

156 ABRAHAM LANSING
what ought to be done, guessed at the meaning of the tongue
unknown to him and went and obeyed and did his work well ;
but Barney became tired of living solitary among his fellows
and preferred to serve in ships where he could enjoy the yarns
spun in the forecastle. When tents are to be reared, trees to
be felled, knots to be tied, bough beds to be made, special
duties to be done, Barney is real captain of the host, the most
willing and ambitious Indian we have had in Camp. Barney
likes a swig of whiskey, but has never indulged to excess in
Camp and never gets a chance. Monday, June 15.
The wind blew and the shutters swung in the night, but
we heard little of it until there came a loud crash near morn
ing. D. O.'s washbowl bit the dust on the back porch and
went to smithereens. The shutters were nailed fast to-day;
verbum sapientibus. This is really the first mishap in our
camp; nothing larger than a tumbler has before this come to
grief. Of all the camp crockery carried to Ferguson's and
back, year after year, but a small saucer has been broken.

Thursday, June 18.
Called on McAndrew and family, found them at dinner;
the young ladies placed chairs for us and we sat at table until
the meal ended; afterwards smoked a cigar on the porch and
came away. Conversation turned on fishing. McA. has his
brother with him this year, a salmon fisher in foreign waters,

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 157
or waters over the sea. This brother of McA.'s not only
makes his own flies, but his rods and reels, possibly his lines.
He fishes with great zeal and persistency, more so, if possible,
than his brother, our neighbor.
Speaking of the netting of the mouth of the rivers and the
purchase of the rights of the netters, the fishing rights are
appurtenant to the soil on the banks. McA. seemed to think
the purchase impracticable as being altogether too costly a
method, even if practicable. He says, however, that purchase
of netting rights on only one side will answer every purpose,
and for this reason, that when salmon find an obstruction to
their passage up on one side, they will tend like a flock of
sheep to the opposite side, following each other after once the
current of salmon sets that way. The senior McA. seemed
to think that the purchase of the rights on one side the river,
or on both sides, would be of little avail without some restraint
upon netting farther out on the coast at the river's mouth,
or about it. But we know that large numbers are yearly
taken in the tide way nets, notwithstanding the nets at the
mouth; and assuming the latter not to increase in numbers,
the removal of the nets which are farther up must save to the
pools all that would be caught in them — very large numbers
according to accounts.
Mr. McAndrew has three daughters, Belle, Marion and
Mabel. The sister of Mrs. McA. and Mr. McAndrew's
brother are also with him this year. The family are now in
deep mourning for Mrs. McAndrew, who died recently. D. O.
and L. remember her with great kindness. She was most civil
and obliging as a neighbor and we regret her loss most sin-

158 ABRAHAM LANSING
cerely. The young ladies are getting a thorough education in
wood craft ; they pole and paddle their canoes and try a hand
at logging; they have graduated in trouting and will be soon
taking salmon. They take pictures in photography also and
last winter presented us with a good picture of our camp and
another of our Indian shanty. Friday, June 19.
D. O. went down to fish the Ferguson Pool; caught a
salmon weighing 18 pounds. Another rose to his fly there.
In the afternoon struck a very large fish in Camp Pool. It
was just at the Silver Doctor's hour; it looked to him from
the size of the fish that he would take a very late dinner that
evening, but the fish only played with the fly and dropped it.
He was just pricked. L. rose and held a good fish in lower O.
pool, but for a short time. The reel started, but the fish
dropped off while the anchor was coming up. Heavy thunder
shower about a quarter to six p. m. Barometer 29%o, so a
passing storm, but a good one while it lasted. The rain came
two ways on our front ; the heavy drops converging from the
easterly and westerly and forming the apex of a triangle in
front of us. They pelted the stream well and the artillery of
the skies reverberated through the hills and the lightning lit up
the stream. The shower was over before 6 p. m.

June 20.
D. O. fished the O. pools; took two fish weighing 21 pounds
and 2.^/2 pounds. A. L. fished Ferguson's pool and lost a

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 159
fish. We pay Ferguson for the privilege of fishing his water
this season $30. Down at the head of the Chain of Rocks are
"The Whales," a school of them, for all the world like the
Leviathan of the deep. They rear their rocky backs and sides
above the swift water and help the ridge of rocks at the head
of the rapids to dam the current into a broad expanse of
comparatively still water, which reaches back to meet and
receive the torrent which pours down Hero Rapids. The
whales rise some 10 feet or so above the stream at mean water.
Peter says that this spring the rafts and scows went over the
tops of the whales, clearing them without a scratch. Peter
has a wife and seven children, but he has been twice married
and has grown children by his wife of a former marriage,
who are not reckoned. This is better for the government than
most Indians, but Peter is a patriot, as well as philosopher and
husband. Noel has a wife and four children, all small, seven
years old he supposes.

June 21.
Our second Sunday in camp. We were up reasonably early
for Sunday morning and in view of the hour at which we
retired last night. We shaved and made a Sunday toilet. We
had five salmon in our ice house and determined to send them
out; so the Ferguson boys were deputed to take them to
Matapedia. The salmon went to Miss Olcott, Mrs. Lansing,
R. W. P., J. G. F., Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn. Dr. Campbell, Mr.
Ives and Mr. Stearns, all of Montreal, who have a lease of the

1 6b ABRAHAM LANSING
Quebec side at Chamberlain Shoals and above, came down to
call and stayed until about three o'clock in the afternoon.
The lands on the Brunswick opposite them, as above us, are
leased by S. Waddell of pleasant memory. S. Waddell's stake
is now removed from our premises, but S. Waddell is still
apparently impressed with the idea that he had leased the waters
which we fish and own above our camp — the Olcott pools.
He sent a messenger down stream to spy out the land last
week and he informed L., when fishing above, that Mr. Wad
dell's line bounding his leased lands was opposite Toad Brook
and extended on the Brunswick side from a point opposite
Toad Brook to Toms Brook. The mistake of S. Waddell
seems to be in assuming that, because the Brunswick govern
ment lease all their fishing rights between those two points,
the lease covers rights of fishing which do not belong to the
government. The party of Montreal gentlemen, while they
anticipated some trouble with S. Waddell, were consoling
themselves with the knowledge that his partner in the lease,
or co-lessee, is a gentleman and a Christian.

June 22.
Dr. Mason and Mr. Higginson called on their way to the
club grounds at Indian House. The Club are putting up a
house at Red Pine Mountain ; other members of the Club had
preceded Dr. Mason. Day cool. Thermometer at 10 a. m.
58. Were out before 6. D. O. hooked a fish in O. pools
which came off at the gaff. Logs running fast and strong.
L. saw a good fish in Ferguson's pool, but did not get him up.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 161
Sage has leased a part of his fishing this year to a party of
New York gentlemen. Mr. Dumont seems to be the lessee.
They have a camp opposite Mowat's, which is supposed to
take the chromo from every camp on the river. Mason says
the party calls its camp "Camp Reckless." Their note paper
has that heading; by that sign they mean to conquer. Their
device is a man in a red shirt, killing salmon. Their camp is
the sensation of the season down stream.
The logging season being hard upon us, we were out pretty
early this morning. The drive is believed to be a day's jour
ney above us, reckoning a day from 4^ a. m. to 8 p. m.
Soon after 7 the logs gathered thick and fast about us
and at 7J4 were running snug, as Larry would say, and we
were driven off the water.
We shot at a mark with "Honey Cooler," and afterwards the
culinary head of the drive paid us a visit and announced the
approach of its rear guard. He had a drink of whiskey and
water, and saying that the drivers were "hard by," we put on
our waterproofs and sallied out in the rain to see them get
the logs off the rocks below Toad Brook, where they had
lodged in great numbers. Then it cleared and we sat on the
beach, awaiting. McAndrew and his entire family came up in
their canoes and waited with us; but a shower threatening,
they fled for home. D. O. and L. tarried awhile, when the
rain again began to fall and the men ceased work without dis
entangling the mass upon the Toad Brook rocks — driven off
by the pelting rain which came with thunder and lightning.
Last year the drivers came down with noise and shouts enough
to frighten the fish in the stream. They were down river men

1 62 ABRAHAM LANSING
nearing home after the long winter. To-day they came with
out a sound excepting that of handling the logs with their
iron spikes and pries and the splashing of horses and their own
feet. These drivers are up river men and are going away
from home. The men in the cook's scow built a rude shanty
on our beach above us and in that the drivers slept in their
wet clothing, with feet to the fire at the open front of the
shanty.

Wednesday, June 24.
At about 6 this morning the drivers had disentangled the
mass of logs on the rocks in midstream above us and river
was clear from Camp up, when A. L. went out soon after 6 to
fish O. pools. Took a fish in upper pool weighing 21^4
pounds. Wind high and cold. Thermometer 56 degrees. Had
fire. L. took two fish in the afternoon weighing 10 pounds
and 18 pounds. D. O. took a fish in front of Camp, in the
afternoon, weighing 23 pounds. McAndrew sent up a leg
and loin of mutton, with his compliments.

June 25.
Rained during the night, but river fallen notwithstanding;
sun out in the morning, but clouds lowering. Midday hot.
Thermometer 84, bright and clear. L. fished two pools before
Camp in morning without a sign. In the evening about 6
went down to Ferguson's pool, where the fish were jumping;
struck a small fish which played well and jumped a number of

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 163
times, but pulled out. Another larger fish started the reel,
but was off before the anchor came in. After dusk struck a
fine fish which made magnificent play; four times he showed
his body above the water; he towed nicely in to shore and
seemed well fagged; came ashore with him and three times
quartered him in for gaffing; the second time after a furious
shoot down stream with L. chasing along side of him; then
another pull to the shore within gaffing reach; then another
spurt into the stream; then up to the gaff again, where he
went away, leaving a very disgusted man to reel in the line
and go home, just as McAndrew's boat came up. The ancient
Moses was discovered in a growth of bulrushes. The modern
idea of Moses puts the rushes on his face. But it is not
recorded anywhere that Moses was a fisherman.

June 26.
Dr. Mason passed down, also Higginson; they had taken
nine fish. Dr. Cameron also came down going out ; had taken
a fish on his way, Peter said probably at the mouth of Jour-
dan's Portage Brook. Cameron said the fish would not come
up to a fly ; the water, he said, was too full of froth after the
shower. But the fish seem to be at the mouth of the brooks
and on the bay. The storm had passed about 6. D. O. went
down to Ferguson's, L. went up to O. pools. A fish jumped
between the slides, L. dropped down to him; he was well in
at our shore ; tried him with a Mallard wing, a Curtis, a Blue
Doctor, a Jock Scott, a Fiery Brown and "The last chance"

1 64 ABRAHAM LANSING
and a Silver Doctor to no purpose. Dropped down to the bar
and fished with a Silver Doctor, it being dusk. Struck a fish
which jumped and gave good play, but pulled out. Went back
to the bar and when quite dark struck a fish; had formed a
plan and announced it to the Indians to tire the fish out and
then tow him down past the camp and call D. O. with a lan
tern. D. O. had not yet come in ; we carried out the plan, and
calling out, Steve came out with a lantern and at 8.25 gaffed
him by the light; he weighed 21 pounds, and gave fine sport.

June 27.
Went out this morning after 7. Day bright and clear
and warm. L. fished camp pools, L.'s pool and shoal water
above Hero Rapids. After 10 a. m. struck a fish near the
head of Hero Rapids and gaffed him below McAndrew's, on
his beach. He weighed 21^2 pounds. D. O. fished O. pools
and took two fish just at the head of the bar; they weighed
22^ and 23 pounds. When L. came into camp he shouldered
his shot gun "Blunderbuss" and went up stream to see D. O.
fish, calculating on a ride back in O.'s canoe ; around the point
found Waddell's guardian and while talking with him, O.
fishing in sight just above, O. struck a fish which seemed to
have his mind set upon the tide ways. L. followed O.'s canoe
down to Camp, where he found Sage and Sweny, who had
come up from Harmony to make a call ; they were at the Camp
and came down, the Harmony Indians, "Jock" and the rest,
sitting on the beach. O. passed down with his fish clearing

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 165
Nelson's scow then going up stream. Sage followed down
stream a ways, but the fish was bent on going over the rapids,
and we all gave up the chase and went back to Camp, waiting
for D. O.'s arrival. O. landed his fish and gaffed him below
McAndrew's; then McA. stopped him to read a letter to him
from Robinson, expounding the law as to netting, and dis
cussed the Le Ferge matter, and so O. was a long time getting
back. When he came in, Steve having meanwhile set about
cooking, the table was spread and we had a warm luncheon.
We smoked on the porch between 4 and 5 p. m. Sage
and Sweny floated down stream. Then we went out on the
river. Soon after 6 there came up, or rather down, through
Toad Brook Gulch, a cloud as black as night, threatening wind
and rain in large measure. L. took refuge when the storm
came, as it did with blackness and thunder and lightning, in
Ferguson's shed and after the storm went out and fished until
dark. As we were sitting down to breakfast after 10, Mr. Phair,
the Fish Commissioner of New Brunswick, came and sat
down with us. We had a chat with him afterwards on the
porch. He gave us a copy of the Dominion fishery laws. He
spoke of his proceedings in establishing the riparian rights
of the New Brunswick owners. He looked at photographs.
We gave him our cards; he promised to send a copy of his
official report to us and left just before a thunder shower.
Phair said that salmon caught now and smoked were far
preferable to those purchased in the market. The fish now
are fat and in good condition— much better than those taken
later, after the market for fresh salmon is about over, which

1 66 ABRAHAM LANSING
are generally smoked for market. Then fish smoked in the
method used on the stream are far better also. That method
is this : Build a smokehouse where the wind will reach it ; dig
a trench leading to the house and cover it; build the fire in
the further end of the trench and allow the smoke to suck
through the trench into the smokehouse. No fire is then in
the house and the fish get no fire, but all smoke. The salmon
need not be salted for so long a time by this process. When
this is well and properly attended to, smoking and all, the
salmon will be excellent — no other smoked fish better, if as
good. A heavy thunder shower set in to stay soon after Phair left
and then the rain came down fast and hard. Mr. Bartlett and
Mr. Smith, of Boston, came down stream on their way to the
Club; had some crackers and cheese and a glass of Dow's ale.
Spent about an hour with us and went on their way. The
rain had ceased for a time when they went, but soon set in
again with vigor ; the rain fell hard, with sharp lightning and
loud thunder, all the afternoon. The water rose in the river;
the thunder and lightning abated, but the storm lasted until
we had dined, smoked, philosophized, discussed fishing rights
and put ourselves up for the night.
This log will be memorable not for what it says, but for
what it fails to say. Events transpire, and little incidents and
experiences, new and interesting, happen to us, which find no
mention. Other employments supervene at the time and when
opportunity offers, fatigue or disinclination, maybe laziness,
triumphs, or memory does n't serve, and so they survive to
recollection pleasantly, but without date or definite habitation.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 167
"So with thoughts my brain is peopled,
And they sing there all day long,
But they never fold their pinions
In the little cage of song."
If you wish to hear the birds sing, go out at the daybreak.
That means, in this region at this season, at half after two in
the morning.
A. L. popped beneath his mosquito bar into bed last night
about 1 J/2 o'clock a. m. D. O. was all ready, and promised
to put out the lantern and follow suit; the lamp had burned
out. But the spirit moved him otherwise. He lit a pipe and
went and sat on the porch. Stillness— but the rush of the
waters, and the voices of the toads, to whom all times are con
venient — and night rested upon the woods and stream, fog
also lowering half way down the hillsides. Then his pipe
smoked out, the spirit did not move him couchward ; he lighted
a cigar and, while he peered into the weird and mysterious
quiet, a pencil of light glimmered in the east. The note of the
robin, last sentinel of the day and herald of the dawn, first
faint and uncertain, then bold and heroic, invaded the silence.
"That bird," said he, "has made a mistake." The watch said
it was half -past two, but the chariot steeds of the sun had
been harnessed and day was reasserting its sway; scarce later
than the first faint glimmer of the dawn, the forest became
vocal with song. We sallied out together to listen and see.
The advancing light painted an obscure and fanciful picture
through the fog on the spiral tops of the cedars and the white
trunks and phantom boughs of the poplars and birches — a
phantasmagoria. The air resounded with melody, every song

1 68 ABRAHAM LANSING
bird was jubilant, and they vied with each other and re
sponded to one another in exulting chorus. Along down the
aisles penetrated the morning trill of the solitary thrush and
up from the depths came the answering response, far away
and near by; they called and replied; the redbreast whistled
and shouted, the warbler wound himself up in his loudest and
most spiral perplexities, shooting like a butterfly on a flower
from a substratum of wild and delicious melody towards dizzy
and unattainable intricacies of song. The toads do not come
in here fairly; nevertheless they, always on duty, never unde
monstrative, maintained a plebeian and persistent gurgle along
the beach. So ended a rainy Sunday, which, with all its rain
and thunder, we should mark with a white stone, and which
will often come back to recollection to solace some quiet hour
in the city and to serve as the subject of some post-prandial
talk at home.

Monday, June 29.
It has rained nearly all the night and appropriately to wash
day the rain continues to fall and the roof to shed its water
plentifully this morning. The river has risen two feet. It
is now 9.45 a. M. We have not been out on the stream. Mc
Andrew, Senior, passed up some half an hour ago. Ther
mometer 65%; Barometer 29%0. Two scows have just gone
past with a party and their luggage bound to the Kedgwick,
Moor's scow. D. O. says he means to have an India rubber
bag another season. D. O. fished the camp pools. He took
a fish which weighed 28 pounds. He hooked another good

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 169
fish, but lost him ; at the gaff the hook dropped. L. had one
rise, but got no fish. After luncheon, fished the same pools
respectively. D. O. brought in a fish which weighed 7J4
pounds. L. saw nothing. Rain continued, river rising very
much, a heavy freshet. Muddy, and filled with floating tree
tops, logs and sticks. Never saw the water so high or the
stream so muddy.
Peter and Noel saw a fish close at shore. L. fished very
near the shore. Peter said the fish cannot stand the heavy
current and must settle near shore. L. thought the salmon
could not see the fly in the dirty water. He tried the current,
but the anchor dragged. Rafts and scows came down; one
(a raft) passed D. O. as he was fishing above Hero Rapids.
The solitary individual who was bringing it down betook him
self to shore before it reached the rapids, where it went to
pieces. The mouths of the brooks have receded into the
woods. Thermometer 61. The water reaches the vegetation
on the shores and the beach is wholly obliterated.
The man who gets all the fish of one day is unconsciously
given to song singing and to whistling. The other fellow
sings also, of course, but generally psalm tunes. So boys
whistle to keep up courage. Here the recorder fell asleep in
his chair; he went about his preparations in a somniloquistic
way and betook himself to bed.

June 30.
The smoke house was completed and tested yesterday. It
worked well. The fish had been salted, and this morning were

170 ABRAHAM LANSING
washed and peppered and sugared with brown sugar ; fire was
kindled, and four nice salmon neatly tied on spruce bark were
hung in the smoke which came into the smoke house from the
oven and its subterranean chimney and left with closed doors
to the operation of its blue and penetrating vapor. Peter has
been master builder of the smoke house. If the salmon is as
good as the house he has built is neat and fragrant, we shall
have a treat. The epicurean judgment on the stream is that
smoked salmon, a la mode, is better than fresh. As for sal
mon, Smith, who called on us on Sunday (from Boston), a
man seemingly of good discerning in such matters, said that
he had made a thorough test by having served to him at one
time in different dishes the fish caught presently, caught the
day before, caught two days and three days before, cooked all
in the same way, and at the same time, and that in his judg
ment salmon was not in perfection for eating until several
days after being caught. We agree with his opinion.
Yesterday when D. O. came in with his 28-pound salmon,
he sent down a messenger, Steve, to Ferguson to get his boy
to carry it to Matapedia and have it packed and shipped there
to C. H. R. There were four other good salmon in the ice
house and the Ferguson boys went down with the lot. They
went to Charles H. Raymond, The Fort Orange Club,
Albany, Judge Parker, George G. Davidson, Robert C. Pruyn.
L. went out with D. O. in his canoe to try the lower end of
the camp pool in the afternoon. No results ; water rushing ;
stream rising; yellow and opaque as sand. The men got their
canoes high up on the bank to avoid the threatening waters.
We dined and smoked and went to bed, the rain still falling.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 171
It appeases a bruise ; it heals a wound ; it cures a cut ; almost
it reduces a fracture, Pond's Extract does; and absorbs the
teasing poison of a midget's bill. Olcott has almost the entire
light artillery of the pharmacopoeia along, but of all that is
expressed, concocted or compounded from simple plant or
mineral, Pond's Extract is panacea par excellence. Let the
children cry for it, then, but not long; let Pond have a monu
ment and a merciful Heaven grant that Olcott's cruise of
that oil may never be dry; at least while there are insects to
sting us in the woods, knives to cut, trees to fall or stones to
trip us up.
What is that mysterious influence and association of the
witch hazel? Is there sorcery in it? Do its exhalations re
pulse to conceal its magic ? Does it deal by incantation ? Oh,
plant perennial, restoring and invigorating nature's laws, blos
soming when the harvest is garnered and when the leaves are
falling; repelling by thy malodorous exhalations and healing
with thy balm, tell us thy subtile virtues that we may find in
them the fountain of perpetual youth ! Lay thy Samson head
in our yearning lap that we may live forever in such delights
as these!
Nay, Balsamodendron Gileadense, thou art not an emissary
of darkness, but of light; whether thy power resteth in thy
root, thy stock, thy twigs or thy leaves, thou art the "brazen
dish" of medicine dispensed by the bountiful Giver of all good
things, to raise thy virile wand as a brazen serpent to bless
afflicted man. As thy soothsaying branch discloses the hidden
wells of cooling water, so do thy healing juices neutralize the
venom of the insect.

172 ABRAHAM LANSING
Oh, Maecenas Pond, thou truest iEsculapius ! If thou livest
yet serus in coelum redeas! If Heaven has called thee to
minister above, high be thy monument here, clustered with ivy
green and crowned with its wreath! Cedars of Lebanon
guard thy shrine !

July i.
The day opened with continued rain, which fell in long and
drenching showers through the night. Not very cold, but
the rain comes on the wings of southeasterly wind. The
Ferguson boys came up, having returned from Matapedia.
Florence sends word that he will not be able to come up ; he is
going out on Sunday.
Ives came down on his way out, leaving Stearns alone;
Ives stopped and had luncheon. He confirms the statement
of the mishap to the Waddell party. They went out to see
Waddell and found his flag (an American one) at half mast.
Nelson's bowman was a lame man — not an Indian; he tied
his anchor rope to the second brace of the canoe; the canoe
swerved round broadside to the current and at once capsized.
It turned bottom upwards. The sternman swam ashore;
Sutherland did so but had great difficulty in getting a hold
on the bank; he sank four times, but with greatest efforts
succeeded in rescuing himself. The lost man clung awhile to
the inverted canoe and then sank and disappeared. Ives com
mented severely on the conduct of the surviving canoeman,
who seemed to have had no thought but for himself. Even
after his safety was secured, he made no effort to render

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 173
assistance; but when all was over wept bitterly the death of
poor "Paddy."
The wet season has brought forward or we have more time
to notice particularly great varieties of wild flowers in per
fection. I wish I knew their names. There is a hardy twig
which runs its trailing length close to the beach and bears a
bright white flower, fragrant with suggestion of the syringa,
and of new-mown hay, which McAndrew said must be the
wild plum, but which seems more like the blossoms of the
cherry trees. D. O. gathered some of it and gave it to the
young ladies while we were waiting the other day for the log
drivers. The mountain ash is in full and abundant flower.
There is a white flower everywhere, having a dark center with
leaves surrounding each flower. L. calls it a star flower. The
moccasin plant blooms on the bank. There is a flower we call
the wild mignonette; the wild lily of the valley; the small
marguerite ; the buttercup ; the strawberry and raspberry blos
soms. The roses have not yet flowered, but they are getting
ready, multitudes of them. There is the plant blooming with
a nest of white blossoms — a bush which Barney says is the
Indian tobacco. There is a beautiful flower which we call the
wildwood primrose. All these are white or a faint pink ; then
there are pink flowers and deeper red. There are mosses and
ferns, exquisite, more so than the shells of the sea, and twigs
of rich color. Daily something new blooms out. The woods
are carpeted with flowers.
Oh, sheltering arms, well has Barney named thee "The
Sanctuary!" The river flows for thee, no bell need summon
us to thy sequestered seat. Barney builded "better than he

174 ABRAHAM LANSING
knew." The gentle savage appears to have no eye for what
is delicate and pleasing in nature.
"The primrose on the river's brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more."
But a knife, a spear, a flambeau, a red turban, a string of
wolves' teeth are his delight.

Thursday, July 2.
Rain during the night. The morning lowered, but the sun
is struggling through the clouds. Now and then it gleams
out on the full white clusters of the mountain ash and gives
promise of a longer visit. Now and then an insect wings the
air and the birds begin to pipe up faintly. So, too, the toads
who have for once been silenced. The Phoebe bird is the first
to-day to summon the chorus. The river has not fallen, but is
evidently clearing, 9.30 o'clock.
John and James, the Ferguson boys, brought back with
them from Matapedia each a new black felt hat. They made
their appearance with them on their heads day before yester
day and yesterday in the drenching rain. Their new hats
and handsome new boat have infused new life into them.
There they stood yesterday, wet through to the skin, the rain
pouring down from their drooping new hats, with a new light
in their abashed, almost sinister eyes, and proud as a naked
Sandwich Islander on a hot day with a sealskin chapeau.
Madame Ferguson sent us as a gift this year a piece of maple

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 175
sugar, irregular in shape and something like a pound in
weight. It may be found on top of the lockers in a retiring
attitude. Flies have not been troublesome this season, but
with a renewal of the sunlight we may yet know the priceless
value of the sweet savored smudge pots.
The apple sauce is excellent this year, what there has been
of it. For some time there has been an apple sauce famine. It
was refreshing to observe our alchemist handling his crucibles
once more and appetizing to see our old friend and hitherto
unfailing on the table again. It is good for breakfast and
that is a crucial test of its quality. If you want to know a salt
cellar, look at the bottom of the salt cellar. That will tell the
story, if it is a toad cellar. D. O. says so. Thomas and Betty,
our cellars from the Trois Pistoles, live comfortably on the
locker shelf and do good service at breakfast, luncheon and
dinner. They are Olcott's thoughtful altruism.
The belt of onion gleams over the hill opposite; the toads
are silenced ; not a sound in the air but the rush of the swollen
river. Went out to fish this afternoon, L. to the tail of the
Princess pool and to Ferguson's; D. O. above. Water dark
and yellow; not a sign. Heavy fog leaving from down the
stream now.
McAndrew calls his pool opposite the "Princess Pool." We,
of course, submit to have what we named the camp pool
known as the tail of the Princess Pool. The Chain of Rocks
is almost obliterated by the flood. "The Whales" are almost
covered; Chain of Rocks Brook pours into the stream like
a small river. We saw a bottle floating down the river ; it was
too far in the swift water to chase, so away it went down

176 ABRAHAM LANSING
stream, past Ferguson's. Maybe some one is sending down a
message. McAndrew is having a small house built on his island. It
seems to be a rustic house for the Indians. The Ferguson
children are spread over his clearing as the toads on our bank.
How many are there ? Madame F. said to D. O. that she had
added a boy to her stock of children since last summer. She
was glad to have a boy, she said, as she had been having only
girls of late. She promised to show him the infant, and she
will — if he gives her a chance.

Friday, July 3.
High noon. Here it is again, the bright sun; the air am
brosial, and a sweet breeze, water falling. Thermometer 68.
Five canoes went up this morning on the other side ; promised
to stop on their way down. Party from the Club with a cook
and stores, three gentlemen, Fearing one of them, also Hol
land. We hailed them and invited them as they passed. D. O.
saw nothing this afternoon in the Princess or at Ferguson's.
River falling, swollen still. L. saw nothing either, in the
quick and strong water above. When he came in, D. O.
astounded him by the information that McA. had taken four
or five fish below. It seemed in the condition of the water
almost incredible. John Ferguson brought word that McA.
was fishing in the water at the rear of his premises. It seems
the fish have run in there. The number taken needs confir
mation. It is the female salmon that comes up the river at this

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 177
season, most plentifully; exceptionally a male is found now.
Soon the male follows gaily, sportively, a gallant in her train ;
here they have their honeymoon; here beneath the limpid
waters they build their pearly houses and enter upon the joys
and cares of domestic life. Yesterday and since Monday no
fishing. It is difficult to tell the sex of salmon to the inexpert
at this season. The under jaw determines.
Peter is a very wise man — indeed wisdom exhales from
him at all points, from his head's crown to his feet's soles ;
his mien is wisdom's part ; his locomotion is philosophy's very
self. When he speaks, and it is not overmuch that he does
speak, sagacity chops out from his lips in sententious sen
tences. Discretion is his handmaid; prudence is ever at his
outposts. Well, Peter says the salmon turn white when they
are frightened. On the bar the other day he called L.'s atten
tion to salmon lying there, white as snow; "they have been
badly scared by the scows or the logs or something, I 'm sure,"
said Peter. "But, Peter," said I, "the salmon I took here just
now had a back quite black and his sides were a ruddy pink."
"No doubt," said Peter, "but he had not been scared." "Well,
Peter, we must get one of those frightened salmon now to
see," but the darkness came on while we were still after him.
The Indian is no braggart. If you judge him by what he says
of himself, you will say he is destitute enough in learning and
in art. His dexterity is of the real kind, what there is of it.
He goes like a mastiff straight to his work and completes it.
But he does as little as by possibility he can, of his own accord.
Peter said yesterday we must have salmon soon. The
freshet carried the drive of lumber which recently went down

178 ABRAHAM LANSING
— a very large one and of good lumber — clean out to sea.
The booms broke with the water, or the logs went over or
under them and were lost. But the nets, which are in the
business of overhauling the salmon headed to our pools, were
also broken and destroyed and nothing now remains to ob
struct the advancing schools. This is Peter's story. L'eau en
vient a la bouche — Le bon temps viendra. D. O. says the day
is too fine for words to express. L. crossed the Chain of
Rocks Brook yesterday at its mouth. It was a tug up stream.
Peter commanded his striving canoe with much Indian em
phasis. He rose to the situation like a sea captain in a storm.
Obedience was instant and we pushed through beautifully.
It made the men puff.
The toad has no tail, nor is he a lizard. I never saw the
chameleon, but I have seen our toad light brownish green in
the water, black as muck in the woods, pale olive on the stones,
light green on the grass. If the chameleon can beat him irT
adapting his complexion to his surroundings, all I have to
say is "Well done, chameleon, receive the chromo."

Saturday, July 4.
Our nation's birthday. Our "feu de joie" saluted the day
at midnight by 13 shots. We smashed a soup plate. It
was not a part of the celebration ; we undertook to make a fry
pan of it for some almonds after dinner ; it went to pieces with
a bang and our table cover has two brown patches. The crock
ery seemed conscious of to-day's approach. Yesterday L.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 179
smashed the bread plate over the fire in the morning and the
breakfast potatoes went to cinders. D. O. cracked the soup
dish with hot water at dinner. That soup dish had always a
suspicious aspect. It was only cracked, however, and it served
the soup just the same and mighty poor soup it was, too.
Whatever is the matter with Mr. Hucksley's soup? Or with
us ? We had codfish-balls at breakfast ; they were good, too.
Anyway, we ate them all. Why does n't Mrs. Beecher say
how fishballs should be made ? What, indeed, is domestic life
without fishballs ?
The blossoms of the mountain ash are beginning to turn
brown. Gathered a bunch of moccasin flowers on the bank
above and sent them down, with the specimens of spectral
fern, to the ladies at McA.'s by John Ferguson last evening.
The only toad going now is the inkstand. He is carried, but
in motion frequently. The rule of salt cellars applies to ink
stands, too, if they are toads. Showed Peter yesterday a de
sign for a rustic seat and pointed out a place where it might
be built. Peter asked to have superintendence in building it,
but the time of our departure is nearing and that thought may
vegetate and grow when we leave these retreats. Nous verron.

Sunday, July 5.
We rose somewhere about 9 a. m. and breakfasted a la
fourchette at 11. Peter and Noel gathered a huge bunch of
moccasin flowers— squaw's-slippers we call them; they fill the

180 ABRAHAM LANSING
handsome pitcher on our bright table cover. It is superb.
Would that our friends might see it! McA. said yesterday
that his daughters would photograph the flowers we sent them.
Indians from the Fearing, Holland, Vanderbilt party, which
went up on the third, stopped on their way out and took down
our letters for Delavan and Cooper. We also sent a telegram
to Cooper — "You and Mr. Delavan get ready to fish our
waters. Have written. Rods and flies at your disposal."
Chickerderleguth was a gambler. The white man calls him
Kingfisher. He was handsome, gay and prodigal, and inclined
to knavery. He came to grief. Financial ruin overtook him ;
the tiger whom he fought despoiled him of his fine clothes,
and he was ashamed and hid himself away from the face of
man in the coverts of the deepest woods. One day he took
courage ; he went to the head Indian and prevailed on him for
a loan of seven dollars to get a suit of clothes. He promised
to go fishing till he earned enough to pay back. But Chicker
derleguth never caught more than enough to keep body and
soul together and so forever he fishes on, screaming over the
rivers, early and late, lonely and afraid; starting from shore
to shore in constant panic for his creditor. The face of every
man is to him that of the head Indian to whom he dare not
return. So runs the legend, as Jock gives it to Dean Sage, or
something in this wise. Peter says Kingfisher very poor
fisherman; miss very often; but wears good clothes. The
Indian traditions are passing out of Indian minds; those who
remember spearing days are few; their oldest men — Peter, the
oldest in our party — know but little of it from experience;
Peter says he was engaged a good deal in logging and did not

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 181
pay much attention; could not earn much at spearing and it
was all night work, not much sleep, and being up night after
night did not suit him.

Monday, July 6.
This morning the young ladies invited us to have our photo
graphs taken by them in our canoes, asking us to fix time and
place. We sent down word by James Ferguson, who had come
up with milk, that we would be at their house at 10 a. m. to
morrow.

Tuesday, July 7.
About 10 o'clock, a little after, as the men were at their
kettle, went down to Mr. McA's. Fog had then lifted. Had
a glass of draught ale with Mr. McA., and brought the three
young ladies in our canoes to camp, where they took pictures :
first, of the easterly end of camp piazza with D. O. in hammock
and L. at table ; second, of the camp, easterly side, with ham
mocks, chairs, smudge pot. D. O. and L. in the foreground,
Steve bringing in a baking of fresh bread ; third, of D. O. and
L. on front steps with rods; fourth, L. in canoe with rod on
stream in front of camp and Indians ; fifth, ditto ; sixth, D. O.
and L. in canoes at landing with Indians.
Went out about 4 p. m. D. O. rose two fish at the bar
below O. pools. L. struck a fish at end of Hero Rapids which
all hands thought at first a trout, but proved a salmon ; drew

1 82 ABRAHAM LANSING
him quite in to the canoe before he had his run and before
anchor taken in. Then took anchor and fish ran up near shore.
He chafed the leader on a rock and went off with the fly, a
ranger. L. then went on down to Ferguson's below the barn
and at the trees ; saw nothing. Heavy fog came down early
in the evening. About 7>4 o'clock Stearns came to camp,
where he found D. O. sitting in the smoke of two full smudge
pots. Dined and went to bed.

Wednesday, July 8.
Heavy fog at 5 a. m. ; began to rain about 6^2 o'clock.
Hard rain until 8j4 o'clock, at which time thermometer 62,
with fog. Now gY2 o'clock a. m. Barometer 291%o- Fog
on river and cloudy overhead. Sandflies about, now and dur
ing the morning. Barney brought in one of the smoked salmon
while we were at dinner last evening, which seemed very nice.
A solitary toad appears now and then, but their voices sing
not, night or day.
Went out about 1 o'clock, when the fog had cleared; the
men had boiled the kettle and McAndrew had taken two fish
in Princess Pool; L. to O. pools, D. O. to camp pools and
Ferguson's. L. fished hard until after 7 p. m. ; saw noth
ing until about 6, when a fish jumped before him. Dropped
down to him and he came up greedily to a Silver Doctor, but
missed; then went for him with a Ranger, to which he fas
tened; started the reel and ran, but the hook came out before
the anchor came in. D. O. fished Ferguson's pool and camp

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 183
pool, and came in with a pound and a quarter trout ; then went
out again at about 4 p. m. and stayed out until 8 p. m.
He says nothing. Had O.'s trout for dinner. Steve cooked
it well ; it was very nice, and we ate him up. McA. took three
this morning. The senior McA. took a 33-pounder in the
morning. One of the daughters struck a fish and lost him at
the gaff. No sounds of the toads:
Last year was a squirrel year. They swam the stream con
tinually. They also came about camp. This year we have not
seen any ; last year was hot and dry. Plenty of rain this year.
River still high, but falling; fogs night and morning. At
10.45 p- M- thermometer 63, barometer 29%0. Thick fog on
the river and hills, but stars in the sky.

Thursday, July 9.
The day began as the night ended, with thick fog. About
7 the fog cleared, and after that until about 1 p. m. a
heavy rain; the day was cloudy, with occasional sunshine; at
11 a. m. quite hot ; a fine day for fishing from 7 to 1 1 a. m.
D. O. fished upper pools in the morning; brought in one
salmon weighing 18 pounds. In the afternoon took another
weighing 23^ pounds and, lost one. L. fished camp pools,
rose one fish, which struck the hook and was pricked, prob
ably. He would not come up again. Pollock, on his way
down to the Club, lunched with us, and left about 3 p. m.
He had been at Red Pine Mountain and Patapedia and had

1 84 ABRAHAM LANSING
rare fishing in the high water. A canoe went down yesterday
with over 60 salmon. Heavy fog settled on the river soon
after 7. The storm cleared, with a fine rainbow spanning
the river below us. McAndrew is having rare fishing. He
took two this morning, above the point, weighing 35 and 29
pounds respectively; lost another there. He dropped down
and fished Princess Pool, but took nothing there. Toads still
silent. Picked some wild roses; first we have seen. McA.
says they are plentiful on his island. Starlight at bed time.

Friday, July 10.
Fog on the river. L. went out at about 6j4 o'clock; then
a thin fog on river. About gy2 a. m. struck a fish in middle
O. pools; landed him below camp; he weighed 21 pounds.
D. O. fished Camp pools; back in camp at 9^ o'clock; saw
nothing; water risen again two or three inches. L. fished O.
pools and bar above point without another rise until 12 m.,
when he came in. In the afternoon fished same pools till
dark ; saw no fish ; got a trout weighing three pounds. D. O.
had one rise in the afternoon in L. pool (Church pool). Mr.
Stearns came down on his way out as we were ending luncheon
and stopped and took some Dow's ale and passed about 1^2
hours with us very pleasantly. He had had rare sport, took
five yesterday; was bringing down five fish, three for himself,
two for S. Waddell. McA. took no fish, though he fished
above point where he took two large ones yesterday; his
brother took four at end of island.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 185
Saturday, July 11.
D. O. fished O. pools, took a fish in the morning ; he weighed
eight pounds. He fished same pools in the afternoon and took
what he says was the most gamesome fish he ever caught. The
narrative is somewhat like this : when he went out in the
afternoon he anchored at the lower rocks on our side, below
the main pools, and fished with a Butcher, large size. There
came a swirl in the water at about a £4 cast, or rather a swell
of water, which attracted his attention. He referred the
matter to Louis, who, sitting near the water, also noticed it,
and pronounced in favor of a salmon. The motion was to the
right of the canoe, and to reach it better D. O. had the position
of the canoe changed somewhat to the right; put on a large
Silver Doctor and tried without result; then tried a small
Butcher, to which the fish came up and showed his head and
back fin ; then he rested awhile and put on a small Black Dose
(double hooks, purchased in Montreal on our way up), to
which he came up from the shore side, sidewise, with a fierce
rush and struck the hook ; the reel ran and the men sprung to
anchor, but it was not in when the fly came away. D. O. saw
the fish as he came up and put him down among the thirties ;
assuming that the fish had been pricked, he moved up stream,
intending to try him again. Moving up, and having anchored,
a small salmon jumped to the right, high and dry out of the
water— high enough to dry his back in the sunlight and to
shake all the water from his tail, or thereabouts— higher than
any fish ever jumped before in his presence, with his know
ledge ; then, the fish being little, he debated whether he should
waste time on him. He had come down with such a slap on

1 86 ABRAHAM LANSING
the water that Louis, who was looking up stream away from
the fish, turned with the idea that some one was stoning the
canoe from the shore. If it had not been a salmon his stomach
must have suffered, and maybe it did. It was a little dark,
and D. O. concluded to try him with a small Silver Doctor,
and did so without a sign ; then tried him with a large Butcher,
to which he just moved the water ; then with a small Butcher,
which he wholly disdained; then he gave him a medium sized
Brown Fairy (Light Brown in Forest's nomenclature), at
which he came with a furious rush, seized it with a bound
clean into the air and, without waiting a second, started down
stream at a pace of about a mile a minute. Half the line ran
out before the anchor came in ; then he turned and made three
huge jumps, first up, then down stream, and across the stream
in such rapid succession that you could scarce count between
each of them. D. O. had not moved his canoe, which was
near shore. Then the fish ran up stream; had started almost
straight from the canoe in his flight down the river and turned
towards the middle somewhat before running back. He came
up just abreast of the canoe on the river side. D. O. went
ashore, having reeled in as the fish returned. He quartered
him in to the shore and had only about 30 feet of line un
reeled, was bringing him in, when he made two rushing jumps
in marvelously quick succession towards the middle of the
river ; D. O. gave him rod to the water and paid out line with
his hand as quickly as possible ; then concluded, as his nose was
up stream and he was disposed to work, to give him a chance
in that strong current and held him awhile where he was, five
or six minutes, straining him a little across the current and

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 187
toward the shore. Then he gradually drew him in and at
about 30 feet from shore he repeated his last-mentioned
double somersault performance and rushed away to the mid
dle ; then was brought in again and brought down stream, the
last rush being a little above the canoe — to the shore — when
he made a jump and a short rush, and surrendered to the
fatigue of his own violent exertions and to the pressure from
the rod and came into the gaff, which quickly penetrated his
plump shoulder and brought him to the bludgeon and the
canoe, where they covered him with green boughs. He now
lies in pickle for the smoke house. He weighed eight pounds.
O. tried the larger fish again but to no purpose. L. fished
Camp pools in the morning. Tried hard for the fish in the
L. (Church) pool, without any success; fished the slide and
the tail of Princess pool, without a sign. In the afternoon L.
felt the hot feet of the midget, and there are myriads of them
along the whole stretch of our water; after sunset to-night—
at Ferguson's and at the tail of the Princess pool — bites were
plenty at both ends of the canoe and in its midst; they were
all from the air, none from the water, not a sign.
In the morning Miss McAndrew (Miss Belle), with Miss
Mabel and their aunt and camera, Miss Belle poling in the
bow, John Jerome, the Indian, in stern, came up ; passed L. as
he was fishing near camp ; hailed him and invited him to have
his canoe, etc., retaken, the picture of the other day not being
satisfactory. They then went up stream, where D. O. was,
and as he came down took him and Indians and canoe; then
came to Camp and took two other pictures— one from the
easterly side of front porch, another of D. O. and L. on front

188 ABRAHAM LANSING
steps, with rods (the other picture of this subject not being
good enough for exhibition). Holland came in on his way
down; stayed a short time with us and invited us to fish
Brandy Brook on Monday. Night cool, and starlight. The
stars glittered over the hills opposite with all their old-time
fervor. Long may they be undimmed by clouds. Fire com
forting in the evening and Steve built a beauty. We watched
the flame crawl along the sticks and toward the back as if
guided by trains of magnetism until the whole mass gave out
one bright sheet of continuous flame, while the glowing
embers shone through the chinks among the round sticks.

Sunday, July 12.
Catlin's scow, with a moderate settlement aboard and boats
and canoes and stores to match, piled high and drawing deep
with its burden, came up between 8 and 9 a. m. Catlin
was lip and dressed, you may be sure, and breakfasted too.
Hearty and ruddy, with a good capon-lined effect, like all
about him, he stood amidships, commander of the situation
and the craft and well became the position. The fragrance
of his Havana wafted ashore to us like the perfume of some
aromatic woods afloat. Catlin, like some others, graduated
from the Adirondacks to the Rangeley and Kennebago and
the Cupsuptic, sometimes drawing a line and fish box over the
Mooselookmaguntic and then to the Ristigouche. This many
a year he has reaped an annual harvest of health and pleasure
from these "banks and braes." Once a boat (a Gaspe boat,

GAFFING A SALMON.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 189
for Catlin likes that best), chair-rigged and adapted to his
figure, which waneth not with the revolving summers, took
all his stores and the Indians and Catlin, too, but three horses,
rigged abreast and tugging hard, moved his ponderously laden
caravel. To-day Catlin had no time to stop — who has en
route to a salmon pool ?
Fearing came in as we were about to sit down to breakfast ;
we invited him to luncheon, whatever subterfuge that may
have been. He replied, with a degree of irrelevancy, that he
had already breakfasted. Maybe it is not very clear that
luncheon is possible before 11 a. m. and of a Sunday morn
ing. Fearing took some claret and so did we, and, when
Fearing left, fell to our coffee and eggs just as if it were
breakfast. The hills behind us — a reredos to the altars of our Lares
and Penates — following the general course of the river to the
road of the upper side of the clearing, project themselves
thence nearly to the bank which battlements our front ; in this
wise they confine, from two sides, the stretch of table-land
upon which Camp Albany overlooks the Ristigouche some 30
feet below. Behold the play of its light and shadows, wit
nesses to all its mad tumults and its merry moods ! Along the
slope of the projecting spur of hills, seen from the narrow rim
between the brow of the bank and the foot of the acclivity, a
slender path, elsewhere scarcely perceptible, traces its way
steeply to the summit. Half way up you command a striking
view of our cabin and its premises; rising to the plateau of
wooded land above, the path winds along the brink, recedes
into the woods and loses itself in a road. Larry responds no

190 ABRAHAM LANSING
longer to any human summons, not even to Olcott's, and no
signboards tell of its destination or its purposes, but assuredly
this road was a convenience, and not very long ago, as its use
evinces to beings who know the mechanism of wood sleds, if
not of wheels, and their utility in two-fold, if not four-fold,
combination; it makes its way far enough seemingly for sev
eral Sabbath days' journeys, too far for a Sabbath morning's
stroll into the depths of the forest.
It was not much after high noon, judging by recollections
of the sunlight, that this path tempted us to its ascent. Paus
ing to view the midway prospect, we wound along its mossy
and perfumed way and reached the road. The sun was bright
overhead; the air elastic; silence, potent but unreserved, was
the fitting mood of the Sabbath morning. The narrow path
we partly knew; the broader road was a pleasing discovery.
Following the trend of either, they bore the burden of a mys
tery which aroused our curiosity. To the right and left at
very regular intervals as we went along were intelligible signs
of the recent work of human hands; twigs bent and broken
with a method and precision which unmistakably evinced de
sign and plainly said "this way came I," or "we," as the case
might have been. Why the twigs were broken, it was easy to
conjecture ; the language was clear and distinct ; by whom we
could scarcely hazard a guess. Why should any one be ex
ploring these solitudes away from the stream at this time of
year, and why especially should he, on these easily discerned
ways, mark out his course with so much care? The explana
tion may be nearer at hand and less difficult than it seems, but
the fact remains to us an enigma.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 191
The season is exceptional, as last season was; this, for its
abundance, its excess of rain; that, for its scorching heat
and dryness. Last year it was as if another Phaeton had
spilled the sun and set the world afire; this year, high Olym
pus should have reeled upon his base, with the terrific thun
der which seemed to have unbottomed the rivers of the
sky. Jupiter Tonans has only been outrivaled by Jupiter
Pluvius. But it is never too wet for the mosses. The rioting sky had
wasted itself like a spendthrift; it had fouled the clear river
with sand and swelled it to an angry and resistless torrent;
had drowned our pools, driven the fish into our neighbor's
waters and depopulated our own ; had made shipwreck of our
sport ; but it had clothed the landscape with marvelous verdure
and filled the woods with beauty. What its plumage is to the
wild bird, the ivy to the desolated wall, the azure to the sky,
the shadows to the lake, the mosses and the ferns are to the
inner woods; and the flowers are innumerable small arms
censing the sanctuary ; purple and gold in its tapestried floors ;
minute rainbows in the azure, finches among the ivy leaves,
prisms in the shaded waters; bright pencilling on the wood-
duck's breast. Mosses are to science as the mollusca in the
order of plants ; relegated by the decree of a botanic court to
inferior rank in the nobility of the vegetable kingdom; con
demned in its tentative catalogues, upon a pretext of defective
organism, to exile from their wonted and native surroundings.
The vision of the botanist does not readily perceive their buds
and flowers and straightway he brings from ancient Greece a
mighty epithet : "Behold," he exclaims, "the marriages of the

192 ABRAHAM LANSING
mosses are secret; they are cryptogamous and upon that
offense I excommunicate them from the temple of Flora."
In the economy of nature the decree of science is but brutum
fulmen. Science is content if it can assort and label; her laws
are the children of her own self-sufficient generalization and
she cherishes them with material and exclusive love. She
knows no edict superior to the uniformities on which they are
based; cold and colorless are her temples; banners hang not
on her walls; anthems attune not her ceremonies; halos en
circle not her ministers ; incense rises not at her altars. Fancy
says that she is "star eyed." Yes, gazing, cyclopean, as the
pole star in winter, which pierces the darkness like a stiletto,
but cannot like the warm sun dispel it. Tradition, terror,
scruple, sentiment, never cloud her vision or restrain her
energy. And so it comes to pass that he who lives nearest to nature's
self enters the very sanctum of her mysteries ; notes her move
ments and her processes with clearest insight; observes, as it
were, and records the pulsations and throbbings of her very
heart; is prone to irreverence most of all. Yet a problem in
vests every physical fact, for the solution of which the rigid
formulas of science are inadequate. When she has ascertained
the law and its conditions and seeks to know its cause, her
generalizations and her mathematics fail; she stands upon a
plane with the child of nature ; her proof is circumstantial ; her
conclusions inference, not demonstration. Does she know the
law of gravitation, she must conjecture what gravitation is
and how it becomes existent. Do the moon and its influence
chiefly account for the ocean tides? Do the sun and its

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 193
evaporating power and the wind and its cumulative force
resolve the problem of the ocean currents? Behind it all re
main the momentous questions : Whence came these potent
agencies ? What caused them to act with results so admirable
and beneficial? And for those questions and such as those,
science has no formula, no analysis, no solution but through
hypothesis and analogy; she enters a domain in which she can
no longer wear the robes of authority. Here, then, on equal
footing Mr. Wiseman encounters Mr. Goodman with power
to question his authority and to dispute the accuracy of his
conclusions ; willing enough to yield to every scientific demon
stration — unprepared to acquiesce in hypothesis or assump
tion, which does not ascribe the natural world, not only to an
adequate, but to an intelligent, cause, if there be a difference.
The human mind is not fashioned for ready belief in acci
dent or chance, as the origin of wondrous systems ; or to credit
that they began without authority, act without guidance,
achieve without design, or benefit without purpose. It is not
to be questioned that physical science has overthrown multi
tudes of mortal vagaries; from infancy its track has been
along the paths and through the mists of error, lifting there
the light of reason and of truth; and conviction ever marks
its progress and confirms its advancing steps, when it moves
as science or kindles its beacons with glimmering ray, or takes
its ground with vacillating step. Certainty of knowledge,
exactness of premise and inevitable conclusion are at once its
law and its necessity, and these requirements of veritable
science it does not bring into the contest with belief and faith
and hope, to whose domain its generalizations do not extend.

194 ABRAHAM LANSING
And your Goodman will not be driven from his vantage
ground by anything less. A type of the race civilized and
savage, in all time, he reads the cosmic volume ; finds at every
page the impress of intelligence ; ascribes the wonders and the
harmonies of the natural world to an author ; studies himself ;
knows the impulses and desires of his being; makes that author
a personal Deity and yields to the instinct of worship which is
in him.
There was born in Normandy in the middle of the 18th cen
tury one of the world's mathematical geniuses — Pierre Simon
Laplace. His marvelous sagacity quickly mastered the entire
range of the exact sciences as they were understood in that
day and lifted him to the plane of Galileo and Newton in
astronomical research and discovery. Since Newton's day, at
least, he is accounted second to no astronomer. Napoleon
Bonaparte, with all the greatness and versatility of his own
mental gifts, marvelled at the powers of Laplace and seeking
to utilize them for the good of France, conferred on him posi
tions of high political trust, in which he bore himself with little
sense or judgment. "He carried," said the exile at St. Helena,
"the spirit of infinitesimal calculus into the management of
business." And infinitesimal calculus will not fit the problem
of the ultimate cause of all things ; until it can be made to do
so, philosophy, assuming by reason of its special learning or
by means of its special processes, to work out and teach its
solution, is merely a doctrinaire ; the common man who in his
range of reasoning includes his own nature, as well as the
manifestations of the physical world, refuses to yield his
ground. It is Apelles and the Shoemaker over again. Science,

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 195
teaching in its own sphere of research, the truth of which it
has certain knowledge, commands attention and respect; but
entering the sphere of faith in the spirit of infinitesimal cal
culus, man exclaims, with the artist, Ne sutor ultra crepidam.
We found the mosses and ferns holding high festival in the
woods. They had been well nourished by the rains and they
vied with each other in luxuriance of growth, as well as in
richness of verdure. The light which came through the open
ings overhead from a bright sun in a clear sky painted them
brilliantly and gave form and expression to the shadows
which rested on them. Mosses and ferns are exceedingly
beautiful ; but the ferns carry with them a hint of the Wardian
case and the conservatory; they are the proper offspring of
tropical varieties and they suggest the rank, creeping, pitiless
and selfish vegetation of the tropics, their dense overladen air
and matted impenetrable thickets and parasitic growths. But
the mosses are true and characteristic children of the north.
They do not sink their roots deeply into the earth as the tree
does nor extend their length high in air like the wild grape;
they are not as long-lived as the ivy is, but vigor and elastic
life are marked features in their being and seem in them quite
disproportioned to the delicacy of their mechanism. Crypto-
gamia they may be ; they nevertheless exhibit a fecundity and
thriftiness which are almost unsurpassed; and they are not
more modest and comely in their cryptogamic lives than inde
pendent, unobtrusive and merciful in their thrift. They are
wonted to all circumstances and man may learn valuable les
sons from them. They rebound from injury; they laugh at
adversity; the rain does not fall too copiously; the sun does

196 ABRAHAM LANSING
not shine too fiercely ; the wind does not blow too bleakly ; the
ground is never too sterile nor the rock too barren for them.
There is much good to be spoken of them, and nothing to my
knowledge to their discredit, let botany place them where it
will in its rules of caste.
If the mosses were sentient beings, we would inevitably call
them Good Samaritans, and in truth they are the Good Samari
tans of the vegetable kingdom— Sisters of Charity and of
Mercy, who assuage the wounds and cover the infirmities of
nature. Is there a sterile spot, on which the sun does not shine
and is abandoned by vegetation, they weave over it a web of
verdure ; or a fallen trunk on which decay is writing its doom,
they hasten to shelter and screen it; does a tender fiber or
delicate root shiver in the damp shadows, they cover it with
friendly vestments; they climb the weather side of the trees
which are too rudely exposed and temper the north wind to
the aged and tender bark; they come to the very rocks and
stones and shield them from the wear and tear of the ele
ments; their modest cells are thousands of drinking cups
which hold the dew and the rain for the minutest dwellers of
the woods and habitations wherein they may hide and rest.
Daintily they lie upon the soil, these lace embroideries with
which the earth's robes are tissued, seemingly pervaded with
the spirit of kindliness and beauty and seeking opportunities
for the exhibition of their beneficence.
If we regard the mosses only through the spectacles or per
haps more properly the microscope of the botanist, we may
learn that they are cryptogamic; that hitherto so many vari
eties have been discovered and that they may be classified

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 197
according to certain observed peculiarities in such and so many
different classes; but from all that, we can arrive at a most
inadequate idea of their real worth and value. Moisture is
to the mosses as their daily bread. The salmon scarcely love
the water more. Any one who has tried his hand at bringing
a salmon out from the wet knows something of the tenacity
of that love. Yet few, if any, plants endure the midsummer
heat as mosses do. The dry and parching air bleaches them
gray and shrivels them into light, interwoven, stringy and
elastic filaments, but does not deprive them of vitality that is
held in reserve for a renewal of the rain, by which all their
freshness is revived and they are stimulated to new life and
beauty. So when gathered they acquire and retain the same
spongy elasticity and durability. The bird knows the value
of the mosses when it lines its nest; so does the woodsman
when he fills the chinks in his cabin walls or covers the interior
of its roof. Any one may know it who would moderate the
heat of an exposed dwelling, or, like "Imperial Caesar,"
"patch a wall to expel the winter's flow." The plants know
it whose roots they protect and the insect life which they har
bor; to the frozen zone they are the first suggestion of the
green fields, for they push their sturdy growth into the very
borders of the polar land ; and on the mountain tops, above the
line at which the trees and plants and shrubs succumb to the
inclement air or ungenial soil, nearest the sky of all the moun
tains' vegetable life, the mosses hold a footing and maintain a
growth. What purposes they serve beneath the surface of the water,
who knows ? We are apt to think of them there as houses for

198 ABRAHAM LANSING
the smaller dwellers in that element and as pasture lands
whereon the vegetarian fishes graze. Along the margins of
the streams and lakes we know what multitudes of am
phibious lives people them, and how in the congenial swamps
they knit the bogs together and help to make the peat for fuel
and for fertilization. They are the reindeers' food and the
Laplanders' bed, for he makes his bed and his pillows, too, of
the rich dried mosses which grow luxuriantly among the Lap
land snows. Dainty couches they must make, too, for the wild
denizens of these and other woods, whereon the hunted deer,
escaping from the dogs, may lie and rest, or, wounded, purple
them with its life.
Recollection serves me of a stream which winds its tortuous
way from the Cupsuptic Lake through thickly wooded forests
to where a stretch of rocky rapids and a fall send down their
tumbling waters to enliven its sluggish surface; of mosses in
the green of the early summer bloom, covering the banks
above the falls as with an abundant mantle and paths thread
ing their way among them, by which the ascent is made to
quiet waters beyond; of noonings on the paths and among
those mosses, and of repose cushioned and pillowed like the
Laplanders upon clean, bright, fragrant and seductive beds,
fragrant not with the breath of perfume, but with a delicious
absence of any odor, excepting it may be a savor of the loamy
earth beneath them. A bed of mosses straightway recalls the
Cupsuptic stream; if other days than those passed among its
sylvan shade have yielded equal measures of enjoyment, they
have been bright and pleasant days indeed ; pleasurable in fore
taste, fruition and retrospect; such days become a corporate

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 199
part of one's being evermore; and brighter memories do not
spring from the Cupsuptic days than of the splendid mosses
which carpeted those woods.
And the Lapps, who are also fishermen, although their
dwellings are rude and meager, have mosses for their beds
and deserve them, not for being fishermen only, but in recom
pense as well for toils and combats in the ice and snows of
their fierce enduring winters. The promise of a bed of mosses
should physic all the pain of toil ; and what boots a fiery mid
night sun to one who rests on such a couch? The luxuriant
growth of the Lapland mosses has its counterpart often, I
believe, in those of other high latitudes. It is strange that in
the coldest climates they should be so stimulated to great
fecundity, but such seems to be the economy of nature. On
the northern slopes of "Greenland's icy mountains" it is said
that they find a congenial resting-place ; and that on the islands
of Alaska they rival in density and luxuriance the vegetation
of the tropics, covering the ground to great depth and actually
preventing by their abundance the exploration of the forests.
But observe that the mosses grow where other vegetation will
not thrive ; they crowd nothing else and make way when other
growths are possible and more useful. A farmer may find
them in his meadows and upon his fields, when he has neg
lected the soil, but they quickly retire and disappear when
cultivation encourages the growth of grains or grass or cereals
more suited to his taste and profit. But it is in the character
of a nurse to the genus of new vegetable life that mosses sub
serve their most marked and admirable purposes, for, where
the soil offers no refuge to the seeds of the plants and vines

200 ABRAHAM LANSING
and trees, they hold out a kindly shelter to receive them, gath
ering meanwhile, as chance or the birds or the wind bring
them, such specks and grains of nourishing substance as come
within their reach, and even contributing to fertilization by
their own decay. So they help to encourage and foster vege
tation. So it may be forests have grown up to cover the barren
rocks and green fields have bloomed and blossomed over the
waste places.
It is, of course, quite an error to charge the mosses with
the parentage of decay. The pendant gray and spectral
growth which hangs ominously from the timber and branches,
which is said to be the winter food of the caribou and which
seems the sure precursor of the tree's declining vitality, how
ever specious its appearance, is not a moss at all ; it belongs to
another family, — the family of the lichens. Mosses are to be
associated with decay only in some such sense as the oasis is
associated with the desert; or cooling and grateful springs of
water with parching thirst; or welcome food with hunger.
Mildew, rust, mould, fungi and all abnormities must claim no
kinship with the mosses, filled with the juices of a rich life and
color and are not to be thought of in the same connection. If
it had never been our good fortune to see any mosses, we
should nevertheless know that they are beautiful and in every
way pleasing, for their comeliness is a "household word."
The rose, like the mosses, a child of the temperate and
colder climates, is the undoubted, undisputed queen of flowers.
The learned Dr. Boteler, who, according to Sir Isaac of
gracious memory, discovered or announced the surprising
merits of the strawberry, and who evidently had never en-

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 201
countered the "Wilson seedling," might have found out more
readily that God doubtless never made a better flower than
the rose (it would have been no new discovery to others), but
the Doctor would have carried the world with him in such an
assertion. Nature sometimes excels herself in fertility of
resource and the greatness of her surprises. It was so when,
after having exhausted every apparent expedient in making
so complete and perfect a flower as the rose, she still enhanced
the marvelous effect by making the moss-rose. If the straw
berry be best of berries, then the rose is the strawberry of
flowers, and the moss-rose of roses. Hear Anacreon :
"Not more the rose the queen of flowers
Outblushes all the bloom of bowers,
Than she unrivalled grace discloses,
The sweetest rose, where all are roses."
Sometimes a pink is decked out in the likeness of the
mosses ; sometimes a tracing of their colored stems embedded
in the chalcedony enhances its charms; but nature's grand
tribute to the beauty of its own handiwork is that having made
a faultless flower, the rose, and fairest among them all, it
reproduced the semblance of the moss as its crowning glory.
And painters and poets crown the roofs and rim the well-
buckets and cap the garden walls and soften the garden ways
and cover the baskets of garden flowers; attire the hill-sides
and mellow the brooks; brighten the fountains and gladden
the woods and illumine the valleys and clothe the trees with
mossiness, until the moss is a typical child of song and story—
a synonym in our minds with grace and beauty.
Our toads are not only eccentric but irrepressible; it seems

202 ABRAHAM LANSING
that they must have a place in all our narratives. They had
found their way into the woods before us and recalled the
fact that we had observed them at times during the heavy
rains, journeying up the bank by our steps ; but whether they
had sought the kindly shelter of the trees and mosses, as more
congenial than an incessant and pelting rain outside; or in
stinct leads them at this particular time of year to take to the
woods; or some other wise motive governs them, here we
found them — not gregarious and convivial, as in the jolly sun
shine on the beach, but solitary, each a hermit in his own cell ;
his voice silent, his person isolated, figuratively his nose
broken, — figuratively, for, in point of fact, a toad's nose can
never be broken — he has none — he has neither tail nor nose.
There is no certainty he ever had a tail at all, but it is well
authenticated by Micmac tradition that soon after "the days
before the light" the Great Spirit gave to the primal toads,
male and female, very proper noses, each of them, and that
for very many generations that useful organ or member
abode with their progeny. What difference it made in their
habits, or what effect it had upon their melody, is not handed
down. Their vocalism is now purely guttural ; what it was or
might be if also nasal it is fearful to conjecture; the toad's
loss is probably creation's gain.
The legend runs somewhat in substance like this : "The
chief of men and beasts was son of a she turtle; he had
stepped upon the stage of life before his time and somewhat
in the character of accessory to his mother's death. He and
his younger brother, being still unborn and impatient, both of
them, of their allotted time, the younger cleft an opening in

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 203
his mother's side, and so both, fatally to her, without trouble
to themselves, came into the world by a short cut. It is fair
to say that this was against the elder's remonstrance, but he
evinced even at that early age a wonderful promptness to avail
himself of his opportunities and so was eldest born. Like
another Cain or Romulus, he signalized his early career by
promptly slaying that only brother and then proceeded to rule
with great skill and dignity and benevolence, as the manner of
his birth and his early history presaged. He waxed mighty
and the beasts conspired against him ; they summoned a secret
council to which, vainly taking the form of witches, the porcu
pine and the toad went. The great chief knew what was in
their hearts; he assumed the shape of an ancient squaw and
went and sat by the dissemblers, to whom he humbly put the
question, how they expected to compass his death. It was the
toad who answered, and the answer he gave was emphatic and
impolite. He told him — well, an evasive answer — so the great
chief, whose English name is liar, gently touched the noses of
the toad and porcupine and when they looked at each other
those organs had disappeared and the toad and porcupine
lament the loss to this day."
It must be owned that the winged insects of the woods often
make purgatory of paradise to those who are not armed
against them, as the saints are armed in panoply of virtuous
deeds ; that they hunt and howl at times in packs like wolves,
and are far more bold and carnivorous, and frequently make
themselves far too manifest there ; but as to other animal life,
although it peoples the woods, it is no easy matter to find it.
In hollows and nests and caverns and various retreats are

204 ABRAHAM LANSING
many wary inmates who know the art of concealment and
practice it admirably. A bird's shadow gleams over the
foliage and is gone ; a glimpse of the bird itself, or a momen
tary view of some rapidly moving creature is occasionally
possible, but a certain expectant repose holds the forest in its
embrace in man's presence. Yet there are charms that over
come the reserve of nature; music is one of them. The trees
danced to the lute of the Thracian Orpheus and the birds sang
to-day to the music of D. O.'s whistling. A single call in the
tune of the solitary thrush evoked a distant reply and repeated
summons in the same refrain filled the boughs with birds —
as it seemed of various sorts — but the melody was that of the
thrush, with some chippering which might not be theirs ; there
were great excitement and curiosity in the trees and bushes
about us and calls and replies and retreats and advances and
fluttering wings and agitated feathers. The birds were not
more curious than we, but far less passive; we had changed
roles; ours was that of concealment, theirs of bold curiosity
and aggression. <
Many as the years are in which at this nesting season, which
is also the season of song, our visits to his summer haunts have
brought us in continual hearing of this bird, one of us, at
least, perhaps both, had never distinguished him by sight from
his fellows in the woods ; often his note has sounded overhead
and in close proximity, yet it came as if from the unseen air,
and the little fellow would not be detected in flagrante delicto.
Even now repeated over and over and all about us, we peered
in vain to find the diminutive body from which it came. At
length, having removed to a position less sheltered, we spied

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 205
among the boughs a little feathery form pulsating to the
refrain and presently, in reward for persistence and patience,
it flew out on a naked limb some 30 feet above us, raised its
head and repeated its song again and again. The sight is
scarcely less pleasing than the melody; very much in the atti
tude of a fowl drinking at a stream the little bird pours out its
refrain to the sky. Now it is somewhat mortifying to learn
that the bird which in the woods above all others had excited
our curiosity, which had for some reason or other been
awarded a place in the distinguished class of thrushes, and
was invariably given the romantic name, solitary thrush, is
after all a sparrow; Albicollii, the white-necked, white-
throated sparrow, technically they call him from the pure
white of the feathers upon his throat. Peabody bird they call
him also, from his song. His white throat, his ash grey
breast, his black and white wings, his canary-like physique and
his sparrow bill were plainly visible to us ; we shall know him
now, silent or singing, wherever we meet.
The enterprising philanthropist who a few years ago peo
pled North America with the English sparrow, by setting him
free here, struck a cruel blow at the fame of the bird's Amer
ican cousins. But the merit of the white-throat dwells not in
his name ; that he is a sparrow tends not to degrade him, but
to elevate his kind ; and to see and hear him sing, as he sang
for us, would almost make us tolerant of the pampered, un
canny little feathered morsel of brutal voracity which eats the
grain in summer and makes himself a nuisance about our
houses in spring and fall and winter; perhaps all the good
qualities of the American bird are requisite to moderate the

206 ABRAHAM LANSING
disrepute which he has brought — this foreign weasel — to the
name of sparrow among us. Yet there are cousins here beside
the "white-throat" who never came from England, a whole
tribe of them, song sparrows of various qualities, whose at
tainments in song and whose habits of life entitle them to a
place in the best circles of bird society. The English creature
is ornithologically, that is to say, arbitrarily and scientifically,
so unmistakable a sparrow that his relatives here cannot dis
own him as such, but to their credit be it said they are never
known to admit these foreign cousins to any social or domestic
or cousinly relationship whatever. The atmosphere was very
clear, and we went over to Toad Brook to take a look at the
view. No one can know what a view is there, up stream and
down, who has not stood on the plateau below the brook's
mouth.

Monday, July 13.
At $y2 a. m. we had breakfast and were off for Brandy
Brook, where we spent the day. D. O. fished right side in the
morning, raised six fish of which he captured two, weighing
301^ and 9 pounds. In the afternoon D. O. took two more
weighing 12J4 and 10 pounds. L. fished left side near the
brook and got hold of one fish in the morning, but he went
away after playing him some time. In the afternoon he tried
the right side near by the rocks above the brook ; four rose to
his flies, one of them three times, another twice ; none of them
took hold. We lunched on Dr. Mason's piazza about noon

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 207
time and afterwards made a bed of its floor and slept soundly
with our fishing bags under our heads. The day was cool and
bright in the early morning and no fog; bright and warm at
midday and in the afternoon; the flies were omnipresent and
omnipotent. They ruled all space; the cows swam the river
in terror of them ; the midget is a monarch and a tyrant when
the atmosphere just suits him.

Tuesday, July 14.
L. took a salmon in the O. pool in the morning; he weighed
12 pounds. D. O. struck one in the Princess pool, in the
evening, but he pulled out. D. O. sent a 30J4 pound fish to
Frederick Olcott, New York. D. O. called and saw the pho
tographs at McA.'s and pronounced them excellent. Retired
about 10.45. Clouds in the sky, no stars; toads singing feebly.
Thermometer 60%. Barometer 29%o. Sand flies plenty on
the stream in the evening; we are happy in the possession of
three fine smudge pots; two of them make us comfortable at
Camp and did service this evening.
McAndrew says one of his Indians, after making repeated
unsuccessful attempts to gaff a salmon, brought up to the
beach, handed the gaff to the bowman, declining to make an
other effort, declaring that the salmon was in terror of him.
Peter says a salmon fears nothing more than a man on the
beach with a gaff. Had some trout for our dinner. Asked
Steve how large a trout he had known to be in the river and
he told us that he had once speared a trout at Red Pine Moun-

208 ABRAHAM LANSING
tain which he had mistaken for a salmon. He had no means
of weighing him, but he guessed his weight at about 10
pounds ; he never knew a larger trout in the stream than that.

Wednesday, July 15.
The Riviere de Muscalonge, says Peter, which is the River
of the Muscalonge, Muscalonge being from the French masque
allonge, long snout, comes into the St. Lawrence almost along
side of the Riviere du Loup, which is the River of the Wolf ;
and near its confluence with the St. Lawrence, the habitants
used to take, maybe they take now, I don't know, I 'm sure,
muscalonge of great size and very many of them. A stiff pole,
a strong cord, a sinker, a cod hook, a mass of lob worms and
good strong limbs did the business for them. There was not
much finesse about it; wet the ground if the weather is dry;
with a lantern in the night among the high grass you might,
if skillful, gather the worms as children gather blueberries.
Large, lubberly, strong fellows, lying with the tips of their tails
in the earth among the roots and their bodies at length recum
bent from them. Far more of finesse is required to gather
them than to catch the big fish. The prehensible abilities of
the human digits are something wonderful when you come to
consider them ; but they can only cope with the retractile
bodies of those wary invertebrates by using all their dexterity
and their dexterity is of little use without celerity and stealth.
Those bodies, without apparent eyes or ears or organs of
sense, brown, inert, solid, plump and clammy, are wary

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 209
enough to know the robin's and the blackbird's approach and
can retreat into the bosom of mother earth with a recoil as
sudden as that of a new steel spring, but they can be gathered.
Crowd on the worms till the whole mass wriggles, ends and
sides, toss it into the quick water and soon you may draw the
big fish ashore by main force, if you have enough of it, and
the cord and pole and hook are what they should be.
At 10.40 p. m. there is a bright new moon, and stars besides
and the toads are singing again. Thursday, July 16.
The day bright and clear, crystal the water. Started early
for Chamberlain Shoals and fished by permission of Mr. Her
bert Ives, Mr. Stearns and Dr. Campbell of Montreal, the
waters of their Club. D. O. went above and took two fish
weighing 18 and 7^/2 pounds, and came in to Camp after dark
with a lighted gig lamp. L. fished down and had his luncheon
at Camp. We had purposed to take some flambeaux and come
down at night, but the plan was not carried out. We had mail
from below in the afternoon, brought up by the scow.

Friday, July 17.
Cloudy. Thermometer 60. Barometer 29^0- L. started
at 6 a. m. for Jourdan's Portage Brook pool ; rain at about
ioj4 a. m. He took two fish and a gilse at the brook, weight
18^4, nine and three pounds. In the afternoon he took two
weighing 24 and 8J-2 pounds.

210 ABRAHAM LANSING
Took Waddell's guardian some tea; found him camped
below the mouth of brook and invited him to come down when
we broke camp or before and get some articles for his camp
use. D. O. held a good fish a few moments at Chain of Rocks
Brook in the morning and in the afternoon struck a very large
one in the O. pools, which fought hard and was finally lost,
through Barney's attempt to gaff him from the canoe and
fouling and snapping the line with the gaffing stick.

Saturday, July 18.
A bright day. L. spent the morning at Jourdan's Portage
Brook. He struck two fish but did not hold them; the hook
came away before getting ashore. A number of others rose,
all to the dun wing. Went down to Camp for luncheon.
When the eaves are dripping with the wet of the morning
mists, breakfast pleads with a sorry visage at its best. An egg
will cook in two minutes, but it takes the water from 10 to 20
to boil. Time is voted precious at that hour, and it is gen
erally a cold comfort, our breakfast, and it gets, as it deserves,
a very cold shoulder ; is usually dispatched in detachments of
one, without an appetite, for conscience', or the stomach's sake,
and not for love. But it is a tonic for the luncheon hour,
such a breakfast, calling every day of this vacation time a
feast day, and if there are any Ember Days here we are not
aware of them. Midway between the egg and apple, comes
le champ de repos du jour,— its Sans Souci and Sabbath, the
semitone and cadence in its rhythmic movements, day's vernal

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 211
time when energy and zeal recuperate. This unruffled and
serene period lies hard by — sometimes invades — the confines
of the shadowy realm whose flowers exhale their fragrance
and display their colors through the mists of dreams. A dic
tionary which paraded the word "laziness" at that hour should
be and would be banished from the premises ; every semblance
of that grievous sin is then accredited to repose, which is the
duty of the hour and not only justified, commended, but en
joined. At this supreme hour, if one is not at his 40 winks, as easily
he may be in a hammock or a chair, as disposition or digestion
serve, his unhampered thoughts may be busy in any entertain
ing direction. If he has had a morning of interesting or ex
citing adventures, he may and very likely he will make that
morning a mirror wherein, with critical eye, he sees himself
reflected and, while he takes his ease in his inn, leisurely con
demns his errors or applauds his successes and fortifies him
self with experience for new achievements. A man may make
"scratches" at salmon fishing, as he does at billiards — not so
often — and in the long run it will not pay to reckon on count
ing that way.
In all the affairs of human life, experience aptly applied
brings the cows home, the grist to the mill and the salmon to
the shore. The great charm and delight of this sport is that
daily it opens the eyes to this fact more and more. So, like
prudent virgins, we trim our wits' ends and nourish them with
the oil of experience and muster and master situations for the
afternoon. The witching time of a bright day is the Silver
Doctor's hour. The midgets like that hour, too, and as the

212 ABRAHAM LANSING
shadows fall and the birds begin to speed away on resolute
wing and the salmon to taste the air, the insects come out for
a frolic also ; but nevertheless on a bright day there is no hour
like that in which the Silver Doctor rules.
Well, at luncheon time, that is to say after the luncheon was
over and we sat placidly on the porch, a great bald eagle came
fanning down with measuring wing along the bends of the
opposite shore. Leisurely he came, emerging from beyond
the turn at the brook, holding himself not much higher than
our line of vision, if as high; pushing his huge sidelong
shadow aslant before him ; peering down into the water for a
fish; a partridge at that distance would have sounded like a
small thunder gust ; but we only knew that this great eagle was
there because we saw him. His easy movement — deliberate
but very progressive — had carried him past the camp, uncon
scious or regardless of our presence, when the sharp sound of
"Honey Cooler" awoke the echoes around him. No feather
flew, but the missile sped so near the bird that his broad wings
flattened upon his sides and his body dipped headlong towards
the water; then gathering himself with quick recoil he rose
with wonderful energy and greatly accelerated pace and im
mediately was lost in the shelter of the woods, among its
highest tree tops.
"One day on the Chesapeake," said D. O., "we sat behind
the rushes in a blind of the St. Domingo Club, C. H. R. and I,
and watched the movements of a crippled duck upon the
water and of an eagle hovering over it. The wing of the
water fowl had been broken and the eagle circled above with
frequent descents to capture his prey. When he approached

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 213
the water, the duck disappeared beneath its surface ; and thus
for some time they mutually lowered themselves, on the ini
tiative of the eagle, in their different elements. At length
like a tired salmon, the water bird yielded to the demands of
fatigue and for his life could no longer maintain the unequal
struggle. Then down swooped the bird of liberty and gath
ered the spent quarry in his talons and far out of gun shot
from the shore rose triumphantly upward. The wild duck is
a hardy and a muscular creature and, whether from his strug
gles or the tactics of the eagle, at a mortal height, the lordly
talons released their grasp, and, revolving head and heels
through the unresisting air, the wounded bird fell splashing
on the water with a fatal thump ; with seeming unconcern his
captor sped away to the shore and ensconced him on the limb
of a tall tree; then he serenely regarded the struggling form
until death stretched it lifeless on the bosom of the bay; then
he sallied forth, and gathered it again, took it back to the
perch and devoured it." The fish regards the butterfly on the
stream and the eagle regards the fish and man regards the
eagle — all innocently to themselves — but with merciless intent;
push the parallel no further. "Ships are but boards, sailors
but men. There be land rats and water rats." There is the
mandrake and the pestilence, the lightning and the tempest,
the lion and the spear. Nature, infinite in perfection, incom
parable in device and adaptation, past comprehension in its
skill, is not more instinct with the spirit of life than of de
struction. "I do not rightly know," says Peter, "the Indian name of
the Eagle, but that fine bird which came so near his death

214 ABRAHAM LANSING
before the Camp was a mature and a rare bird. A young eagle
has no grey or white head or tail, and it is three years after
they chip the egg before they develop in that way; that eagle
had a ponderous white head and tail, too. If you had shot him
you would have seen also that his beak and claws were a
decided yellow. They have a very rapid flight, those birds, and
it is astonishing how rapidly they can propel their huge bodies
over miles of space. They fly higher and nest higher than
other birds, and they tell me, those who live at the tide ways,
that this white-headed eagle soars above the osprey or sea gull
and watches until he captures a fish, then, when at a suitable
height, he gives chase; the gull drops the fish and the eagle
secures it before it touches the water and that 's the kind of
fisherman a bald eagle is. Why they call a bird, whose head
is so plentifully covered with feathers, bald-headed is a ques
tion ; perhaps his grey feathers look bald at a distance ; perhaps
the eagle does n't mind ; they say that only those whose heads
are really bald are sensitive about being twitted as bald-headed
men. I don't know, I 'm sure ; Indians are seldom bald."

Sunday, July 19.
To-day we broke camp; among others who came in, the
Fergusons were of course earliest; Waddell's guardian and
Philip Petrie, our French tenant at "Daybreak." He loaned
us his copy of Mowat's agreement with him and we are to
take a copy and give him a lease for a term, to be determined.
Called at McAndrew's on our way down to say good bye;

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 215
were pleasantly received and entertained. Passed Mowat's,
stopped at Nelson's. Harmony we passed without tarrying;
no one there and we reached the Club House in the evening.
D. O. and L. came down in one canoe. "Lay down a layer of
earth in a box, then a layer of potato parings, then a layer of
angle-worms, and cover with earth," says Peter, "and so you
may keep your worms a week or more, and they will be tough
and hard and lively. And may the Great Spirit preserve you
for another season's fishing as tough and lively as the other
creatures of the earth, preserved in parings of potatoes."

1886 Saturday, June 12.
It was 10 minutes to 4 o'clock p. m. when Nelson's scow
brought us, viz., D. O. and L., Peter, Noel, Barney, Louis and
Steve, with all our stores and fixings, to the top of Hero Rap
ids. Soon after the roof of Camp Albany came in sight and
we had landed and were at work opening the windows and the
barrels and boxes. We made few stops on the way; indeed
only two— at Nelson's old house and at Dee Side. At the
latter place the men boiled the kettle, and Mrs. Nelson gave
us luncheon. They have put up just above Dee Side a new
government hatching house. D. O. and L. walked over to

216 ABRAHAM LANSING
look at it and saw the salmon fry in troughs, ready for dis
tribution. Our eyes rested on myriads screening themselves
in the shadows of the clean and narrow troughs. Bright run
ning water from the hills, entering at the head of the house,
laved them copiously and if liveliness is a criterion by which
we may judge, their artificial procreation was no disadvantage
to them. The floods had again descended on the house of
McAndrew, and it had fallen, but the indomitable heart of
McAndrew beats undismayed.
Mild runs the autumn Ristigouche ;
Meek are the dimples on its limpid waters,
And all its tuneful voice on a minor key ;
There is a festive twinkle in a gypsy's eye ;
There is a frown of verdant mountains,
And a threat in peaceful space,
Boding perfidy in Nature's smiling moods.
Sensuous the spring,
Fecund the summer,
Teeming the autumn depths,
Nuptial noontime; Pan bates a breath and ponders;
But winter creeps along,
As shadows in the afternoon
Steal on to twilight and to gloom ;
Enfeebled Nature, spent with the riot pace,
Grows sere of locks and thin ;
Idly the stubborn branches lash at the winds,
Rend their blighting leaves,
And freight the air with frantic protest.
Vainly the forest wails in pitiful entreaty :
Pallor sits upon the features,
Films glaze the eyes,
Palsy spreads through all the limbs
And body of the earth,

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 217
And stills its vital currents.
Sharp needles ply with icy thread
Upon the surface of the shrunken stream,
And fit its winter garb.
Hapless it lies,
With voice restrained,
And all along its winding way,
From shore to shore,
Held hand and foot
In crystal gyves and manacles,
Wrought as cleverly
As spiders spin their webs,
Or handicraftmen plait
The meshes of their lace ;
As swiftly as the shuttle
Moves upon the loom ;
As silently as skillful fingers
Knit in silken floss, or braid in odorous hair,
And strong, as if
In silent smithy
Working unseen,
At tireless forge,
On noiseless anvil,
Some Vulcan of the cold
Had welded them.
Above the jagged shoulders
Of the evening hills,
Purples with bated breath
The western glow
Upon the vanquished scene ;
Cyprine cedars fold their arms
'Neath sombre brows ;
Sacerdotal firs and pines,
From their dense and solemn green,
Hold out their wrinkled cones
Like urns, bleeding at their pores,

218 ABRAHAM LANSING
And offer incense on the piercing air ;
And birch and poplar,
White in priestlike vestments,
And ash and beech and maple,
Stark, reverent and grim,
Stand priests and mourners
At funeral rites.
The summer is the spring's glad child,
Not so the autumn of the summer,
Or winter of the fall.
Autumn is no new birth
But waning life in summer's self,
And winter is the summer's death of all.
And so the lusty summer,
Outcome of every purpose of the year,
Its climax, full fruition, and its best result,
Fresh from memories
Of golden light,
And scented breeze,
And waving bloom,
And bowing fruit,
Is laid, with solemn rights
And requiem, at rest.
Do they say that keys unlock
The chains of winter in the spring?
I tell you Amor vincit;
That the spirit which ere long
Will burst in russet buds
Upon the trees,
And call in wild birds' amorous songs
Among the branches,
Mantle the earth with tender green, and
Paint with pensive blue
The violet's lid,
And make the wild rose blush
Before the streamlet,

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 219
And all the air, seductive and voluptuous
With the scent of blossoms
And the thrill of warbling melody
And warmth of balmy breeze.
A bright day — a bright Ristigouche day; a clear river; no
bugs and no logs. Between us we had five handsome salmon
in camp by evenfall, not long out of the briny deep. L. took
three — 27, 24 and 14 pounds. D. O. took two — 25 and 23%
pounds.

Tuesday, June 15.
Another bright glorious day and we went a fishing. In the
morning D. O. took two, 22 }4 and 23^4 pounds. L. took two
— 23J4 and 20J4 pounds. In the afternoon D. O. took two
more — 22 and 28^4 pounds. And L. took two more — 26 and
26 pounds. Wednesday, June 16.
Lowering in the early morning; after 10 a. m. settled rain,
and the logs running. In the morning D. O. took a fish
weighing 22*4 pounds. L. took two, weighing 22 and 2634
pounds. In the afternoon D. O. took another weighing 23*4
pounds ; and L. took one weighing 24 pounds.

Friday, June 25.
This was a cloudy day with showers. L. fished the camp
pool early in the morning without result. McA. in his Prin-

220 ABRAHAM LANSING
cess pool opposite — no results. Quite on toward luncheon
time, L. went down to Hero Rapids and killed the first fish
ever taken by us in that pool. He took three and missed one
good fish, which came up on the first drop. The weight of
those taken— 24 J4, 27J4 and eight pounds. In the afternoon,
L. fished Hero Rapids again and killed two more. Weight
2854 and 20 pounds. D. O. also took two fish to-day in his
pools (O. pools) — weights 29 and 13 pounds.

Saturday, June 26.
McAlister and Mowat came up in Mowat's dugout yesterday
(Friday) p. m. and passed last night with us. They went
down before noon to-day. McAlister went up in the morning
with Mowat to Olcott's Pools and hooked a fish which he did
not get. D. O. and L. did not fish. Saturday, July 3.
L. scored one fish in the morning, avoirdupois 24 J4 pounds.
Stearns came down from Chamberlain Shoals in the after
noon and had luncheon with us. D. O. spied a ground hog at
the ice house, near the door, as we sat on the porch, and sent
a bullet through him from "Honey Cooler." He proved to be
a male in excellent condition and fat. D. O. directed Barney,
who is not long in ascertaining the reason for a rifle shot, or
of any other noticeable fact or occurrence either, to have him
carefully dressed for use to-morrow. Mrs. Dugald Ferguson
sent us a chicken — so called — also in the evening.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 221
Now there are hawks and foxes and weasels and mink and
the little black and white animal, which Larry used to caution
us was best secured in a barrel; and there are crows, too,
which relish young chickens and heaven knows what beside, to
prey on poultry here and the hens stray away and hide their
nests in the woods and heggs is heggs up here and the winter
is long and provisions are scarce and there is no money to re
stock the poultry yard in the spring and when Madame Fergu
son sent us one of her fowls, she sent us what she did not hold
for sale, and would have declined to sell, upon almost any
offer. None of the farmers here, the Fergusons and the Manns
and the Horns and the Mileses and the Le Fergies, keep their
poultry for sale, but for their eggs, which, with all other farm
produce and stock, such as it is, are for sale and in market.
So the gift of a fowl is no mean matter, whether it be old or
young, and was a very suitable concession, on the Ristigouche
standard, to the importance of the Fourth of July in the
world's history, and a very marked evidence of consideration
for those who received it. It was Saturday afternoon any
way, and Stearns found it pleasant to stay and we found it
agreeable to have him and so we went not out to fish any more
this week. Sunday, July 4.
We began the day with our usual salute of 13 shots. And
we gave the men a Fourth of July dinner, i. e., we provided
them with materials for it, and they did not refuse to honor
the day or stint their potation except by the size of the turn-

222 ABRAHAM LANSING
bier and a certain sense of decorum, always present in their
minds, and strained most severely under such a temptation.
D. O. made a ground-hog stew and it was excellent, for din
ner, which we had late, and as a second course, Mrs. Fergu
son's chicken fricasseed was not bad. In the afternoon we
made a call at McAndrew's. And we honored the day with
smoke and cordials, after dinner, and then laid down upon
our bough beds for the night — what was left of it — and we
slept as soundly, no doubt, as if we had marched in a proces
sion with a musket or a banner, or delivered an oration under
the shadows of the Capitol. And so ended our seventh Fourth
on the River Ristigouche, in smoke and sleep, and how else
ought it ?

Wednesday, July 7.
Our lines uncast in any place lay snug upon the shelf all
day, unwet. Mist obscured the dawn; heat and showers, sun
and clouds diversified the morning and settled rain wound up
the evening. We had appointed a christening and made a
festival and all Isle Inverburne's household and all the red
men of its camps came to bear witness. They came at noon
— as asked — but none too late for our preparations. At once
the clouds broke away and gave a glimpse of the sun and all
of us descended to the beach.
In front the ladies and gentlemen ; down stream a few paces,
and to the rear, a file of Indians, Inverburne's and Albany's,
decorously drawn up in regular and double row. Over the
bank above through the foliage appeared the meagre face and

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 223
dark eyes of Louis, prone on the ground, and hors de combat,
from the cut upon his knee. The canoes, drawn up at the
water's edge ; around all nature, its river, woods and perfumes
and its rising mists; on high were shifting skies of grey and
blue and bursts of fitful sunlight. The breeze made not a
whisper ; the birds had sung their matins out and were in their
noontime hammocks. The earth and air were listening with
pensive curiosity and the mild tumult of the river warned
against intrusion. "Proceed," they said, "we are all attention.
Ring up your curtain, have off your faces and begin."
What an occasion is a christening — a canoe, a yacht, an
infant; shall we not lift it into the sphere of individuality and
a name? Set out the little lighted candle from under a bushel,
upon its distinctive candlestick; array it bravely for the cere
monial and proffer it with aspiring hope and earnest belief.
Who is there to gainsay or estimate its efficacy? Yet up and
down upon the river are canoes and canoes, birch canoes and
log canoes, nameless as the pebbles on the beach, or the sticks
of timber in a drive — unregenerate children of the forest, do
ing their essential part in the economy of the stream, without
the grace of christening.
Ah, Gideon Le Fergie, crank of the dice box and the bottle,
outlaw almost in this land of freebooting, drifter, poacher and
what not else, thy "Lovely Sea boat," among all the craft big
and little on the water, is now the only conception to the
dignity of a name, since "Great Caesar's Ghost" and Peter's
"Mary Han" went wailing on the "shining shore !" And a
christening is for the future — for the new, the untried, the
promising; for youth and for hope; the garlands are garlands

224 ABRAHAM LANSING
of hope; the ceremonies the earnest and tokens of promise.
Quid rides? The young Homer, the young Hercules, the
young Lawgiver of the Bullrushes, is he not a possibility of
every age, aye of every generation?
Shall there be even song and no reveille? Requiem and
vespers and no matins? Fasts and tenebrae and no Christmas?
Funeral baked meats and no frankincense and myrrh ? Night
ingale and no chanticleer ? Shall we grieve with the tragedies
of November and have no songs for the beauties, the fra
grance and the promise of May? And what does it signify
that this blighted leaf is the same which pushed through the
bark with abundant life and promise and burst open the brown
bud to reach the light of spring? What does it signify that
November is not less a certainty than May ?

Thursday, July 8.
Well, this was the day after. We took no fish at all this
morning. The river ran and the birds sang and the day
dawned and the morning waned and the shadows lengthened.
Perhaps the heat was the trouble ; be that as it may, we killed
no fish until afternoon. Then D. O. brought in a 20j4-pound
and L. an eight-pound one and we rested from our labors.

Friday, July g.
They say the spring freshet this year has had no parallel in
the world's history. They all agree on that; the Fergusons,

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 225
great and small, male and female, and the Horns, father and
sons and mother, and the Mileses, and Nelson and old Le Fer-
gie and the rest, and Peter and the Indians shake their heads
significantly. It is a part of the traditions now of the river,
how the comely dwelling of McAndrew, our neighbor, stayed
and anchored and battlemented around about with the sturdi
est posts and timbers which the forest yields, in the dead of a
tremendous night, burst its moorings, rose to the summit of
the swelling flood and rode, with all its freight of stores and
furniture, above the Whales and the Chain of Rocks, down,
down with the tumult and the roar to be stranded at Brandy
Brook. Le Fergie cast it a midnight benediction; Ferguson
peered grimly out at the novel sight; the Horns assembled to
gaze in mute astonishment as it went by, and Miles. But at
Brandy Brook, resting like a giant drunk with new wine,
lashed and buffeted by the remorseless rush and torrent and
grinding up and down upon the rocks, it shook its unwilling
shoulders as if chilled to the marrow with the cold and yield
ing up the ghost with a wail from every timber and at every
joint was torn limb from limb in the insatiable flood.
To have approached that stranded and reeling house, across
the ice-blocked river, would have been a feat of no small peril.
They do say that Miles's house was better furnished after the
freshet than before and that mysterious shapes went back and
forth about the doomed pavilion on that memorable night.
But who can know? The fearful avalanche of water left no
reckoning of the flotsam that went out to sea in its savage tide,
or the jetsam that crawled along the river's bottom in the same
direction. And there were things to reckon and remember

226 ABRAHAM LANSING
and lament. The house, the second of its kind, not quite as
large as that which succumbed in the spring freshet of the
year before, but no mean affair for the wilderness; the com
forts, conveniences, and luxuries of household economy, which
it contained, brought for the long summer vacation of '85, and
in anticipation of successive vacations like it; the red elbow
chairs that knew so well the shady parts of the porch at all
hours and the coolness and comfort of the twilight; the old
fire dogs on the hearth in the bright dining-room chimney cor
ner, through which the fire looked with a merry light when
the sun had gone and the night air chilled the river's canyon,
and over which the fragrance of the choicest Havanas of the
Travellers' Club mingled with fumes of the best hot Scotch,
and with the smoke of the burning logs, on their way up into
the outer air ; in which the flames had painted so many pictures
of a white banquet table and a joyous company and of other
pictures on the walls about them; of the salmon, life-sized,
which had tipped the scales at better than 42 pounds, painted
to life, — an ugly brute, but a big one, and a rare one; and of
tracings and photographs brought there and taken there and
painted there and of tasteful decorations which made the in
terior of that room so engaging, so homelike and so hospitable.
That excellent kitchen stove, but a season old, which cooked
the crimped salmon, not an hour out of the stream, after the
method of the Laird O'Cakes, and its entire baterie de cuisine.
A case or so of the best "Old Islay," no doubt ripening in the
frost, to add to the charms and pleasures of that hospitality.
Down they went, as if it had cost no pains and money to bring
them there, preceded by the trim flag-staff, which had floated

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 227
the "Meteor flag of England" in proud announcement of the
allegiance and the loyalty of the household on festal days and
thrown out its folds in welcome on the return of its members
and guests.
Rocks and roots and forest trees, hill-sides of gravelly
earth, are common food for the hungry river when it wakes
from its winter's sleep to take its spring breakfast. It was a
dainty morsel to grind in its icy teeth and roll under its licker
ish tongue and in its ravenous jaws, this comfortable and
handsome villa and its choice contents. And they say that
the river rent the air with roars of savage glee at the happy
chance. It jammed the ice blocks across the channel at the
Chain of Rocks, as in driving times it jams the logs, and piled
them up in greatest confusion and strength, until the rushing
waters were hurled back upon themselves and combatted in
their rebound their own descending current. The war of the
contest aroused the frightened echoes, the moon grew paler
in the winter's sky and the hill-sides trembled with the terrific
struggle. A block of ice on the porch of Camp Albany after
wards marked the height of the angry waters which had
surged back from the dam below.
Last summer's floods must be memorable in the history of
summer floods in the Ristigouche. Then they said — the old
inhabitants — it had no precedent in any summer whereunto
their memory ran back. Well, that flood raised the water to
the foot of the stairs by which we ascend our bank. It was a
rushing, resistless, ungovernable, overwhelming torrent. Now
raise it 20 feet. What then? Could anyone determine its
avoirdupois or measure its vital force; could anchorage hold

228 ABRAHAM LANSING
it back or stay its power? Not such as it met at Inverburne
Island, surely. Of course the house yielded ; torn up by the
roots at the first onset, it was lifted to the surface and awaited
the yielding of the dam before the gathering forces to be
swept away. Of course it went. The oldest inhabitants,
when the summer birds were singing and the summer stream
smiled pleasantly and the flowers were growing on the beach
and banks and the cheveaux de fries alongside the merry
water defied its latent powers, the oldest inhabitants then said
it would go, and it did.
On dit, that last winter's snows were immense; that the
thaw came suddenly and late; that it continued with little
check and rapid effect; and that these declivities ran rivulets
of liquefied snow from Matapedia to the Kedgwick, something
like continuous waterfalls pouring down into the common val
ley from marble sides, opposite each other. These stiff gales
which rush wildly through here so frequently in summer are
doubtless meagre suggestions of the boreal blasts which ac
company the dying winter. When the main strength of the
accumulating waters lifted the strong ice from its mooring,
snapping it with a sound like a rapid fusillade of musketry,
and rolled its blocks together with a noise like the roar of sup
plemental artillery, it may well be that at times the winds
played a part in these ceremonies, which cleared out the river
for the salmon of '86, and wound up the long winter, and with
no uncertain sound either. Some sort of dirge usually empha
sizes disaster, be it the wail of the wind or the wolves, the peal
of the thunder or the voice of the multitude.
At the stillest hour of the stillest day of summer or in au-

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 229
tumn, there is always what seems an audible voice of the
forest; at all events the hum of insect life and the invariable
rush of the river (imperceptible, if familiar and unregarded) ;
and there is expectancy of song of bird, or leap of salmon, or
slide of rock or earth, or sound of pole or paddle; but what
sounds are there when the winds are stilled of a day in the
dead of winter; when these white cliffs glisten in their jeweled
crust through the naked trunks and boughs over the sheeted
and smothered river, and silence only is heard, and no song
of bird or insect, or voice of man or sound of beast, breaks the
frozen atmosphere, and nature sleeps the rigid icy sleep of
50 degrees below zero? Are there the tickings of the shrink
ing fibers in the trees, the snapping of the ice, as it solidifies
and intensifies in the cold ? We must ask Peter. It is said that
the ice froze solid to the river bottom in deep places — but these
inhabitants, old and new, speak sometimes with more emphasis
than exactitude. Peter knows— what does n't he know? — that
ice at its best never makes from river water more than 28
inches. D. O. killed three fish to-day; in the morning, eight
and 22 pounds; in the afternoon, 22 J4 pounds. And L., it
being Friday, killed nothing.

Saturday, July 10.
We went out this morning and D. O. killed a fish, in weight
20 pounds. But the flush of the season is past, and there is a
suppressed opinion, or seems to be, on all sides. These scenes
do not pall, but the ostensible purpose of our visits is to kill.
Rumors up and down the river that there is a fresh run ex-

230 ABRAHAM LANSING
pected, that a rise of water must certainly fill the pools with
new fish, lose after a time their elasticity and begin to pop
like roast chestnuts in ears trained by years' experience. If
experience does not show that the early season is the only true
season of all the salmon year, then we have not had experi
ence. And to-day being Saturday, L. killed no fish.

Sunday, July n.
And we went up to the jungle and we sat and smoked off
the mosquitoes and we came in for luncheon and McAndrew
called. And we determined to fold our tents and make our
exit to-morrow. Monday, July 12.
A. L. went out early to get a fish if he could, and could n't,
being Monday, and he came in soon and things were very
much astir at Camp. And there was a dense blue-grey smoke
rising in the morning sunlight from the beach. D. O. had
laid the bough beds on a funeral pyre there and was commit
ting them to flames and forever. And a pretty mess they were
and they made such a smoke as only matted hemlock boughs,
and, as it turned out, fermented, can make. And so after all
these years we have learned something this year about bough
beds, it seems. Ah, we must be getting old or luxurious.
Adieu, traditions of youth and its prejudices, if not its enthu
siasm ! Those boughs had been piled up and up, not renewed,
time and time over, and still our aching thighs were not ap-

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 231
peased. Thinner beds might have served us years ago; now
we must have springs and mattresses. What next? What
next ? What next ?
Old Larry Vicaire
Was an Indian rare,
Though his visage was seamed
And silvered his hair.
Along the bright river
On runway and rill,
The footfall of Larry
Forever is still.
But in all this wild forest
Where, where is the spot,
In open or thicket,
That knew Larry not ?
Twain rapid hacks
From the blade of his axe
In the bark, show the mark
Of his moccasin tracks.
By covert, defile,
And devious aisle,
Grim bruin's repair
And Lucivie's lair,
You may still see the blazings
Of Larry Vicaire.
And we broke camp and we floated and paddled in one
canoe down stream to Matapedia, and en route we dropped in
at Inverburne Island and stopped at Ferguson's, etc. At Har
mony we found Sage and Mrs. Sage and Miss Susie and we
ate there the best home-made cake ever eaten on the river and
we tarried there until the films began to grow over the eyes of
day and so were off for home.

232 ABRAHAM LANSING

1887
Saturday, June 11.
It was about 7 this morning when we boarded Nelson's
scow, loaded over night with our stores, and it was after 4
p. m. when we spied the roof of Camp Albany. There were
three of us, C. H. R., D. O. and A. L.
It was a fine day at Montreal — it always is when we tarry
there a day en route. We were driven to the top of the moun
tain after our purchases, took a look through the telescope
there, through the bright rich atmosphere, at the foaming
waters of Le Chien Rapids, fell accidentally into La Langue
Francais, descended to our dinner at the Windsor, at which
we had some very good shad from the St. Lawrence, stowed
ourselves in the Intercolonial sleeping car with a multitude
of traps, and awoke between 7 and 8 next morning at
Point Levi, to see once more the citadel and the Heights of
Abraham at Quebec opposite. And to-night we sleep upon
bedsteads of iron, on mattresses under white sheets; the bed
steads and beds came on as freight from Montreal to Mata
pedia and were purchased weeks ago by mail order from D. O.
at Montreal.
Here are Peter Soque and Noel Vicaire and Barney Barn
aby and Tom, his nephew; Tom is the bow of D. O.'s canoe
this year, for poor Louis Machir died last winter. R. has also
two Indians, young fellows, one Tom, if not two, somebody.
And there is Peter, our new cook, a tall, well-built fellow, with

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 233
a pleasant face, and if he is as good at cooking as he is good
looking, we shall not have to complain of our fare.
R. has climbed the heights of Mont Blanc; explored the gla
ciers of Switzerland; tramped over its passes and sailed its
lakes ; roamed the fair fields and the vineyards of France and
the Rhine ; bivouacked with the army in the South ; basked in
the light and air and water of Italy ; breathed the freshness of
the Adirondack hills; viewed the landscape from the summit
of Marcy, where all but the tops of the mountains look like
the sea ; done auld lang syne the Scotch and Irish and English
Lakes; rounded the Point of Judith; taught the echoes at
Bugle Cove the sound of his rifle; breasted the waves of the
Moose ; stopped the flight of many a canvas back on the Chesa
peake and of bob white among the blue hills of Jersey and in
the magnolian woods ; been over the Rockies and on the moors
of Maryland; everywhere almost beside, but had never seen
the Ristigouche.

Sunday, June 12.
What a mess, what a day of rest to be sure! By nightfall
things are better. The logs are piled on the old hearth and
the fire blazes and the kettle boils on the crane and the lock
ers are filled full and the room is aglow with the light of the
Rochester lamp, and the drawn curtains send a warm lustre
from their ruddy folds up among the rafters and the shadows
overhead. A fair meal— for pork and eggs, with hot fried
potatoes, make a fair meal— made a cigar enjoyable, and the

234 ABRAHAM LANSING
wine is good and the cordial and the cheese and the biscuit and
the stories were good — most of them. And outside is the old
mysterious silence of the hills, the old brightness of the stars
and weirdness of the woods and steady rush of the river and
deep darkness and music of the toads and blaze of the Indian
campfire outlining against the night their rustic dwelling and
sending a gleam upon the foliage just bursting into new life
on the hillsides behind them. The Indians do not snore ; they
are too near Camp and too decorous for that ; the conversation
of their shanty is in suppressed voices ; there is no loud laugh
ter, no coarse guffaw. And so, with the old memories pervad
ing and the old scenes about us and the old spirit with us, we
wore out the evening, and went, like babes in the woods, to
sleep.

Monday, June 13.
The early morning opened with clouds; at 10 a. m. there
had been showers and after 10 there was rain. Thermometer
marked 60 at 6.30 a. m. The first fish of the season came out
of the camp pool at the slide. D. O. took him this morning
and he weighed 25J4 pounds and he was a female fish. And
L. got nothing. So we had salmon for our dinner.

Tuesday, June 14.
For those who have a fondness for wood life, this is pretty
near perfection and for any one who could enjoy a trip from

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 235
Blue Mountain Lake to the Saranacs, as we did together, it
could not fail to have many charms. I would like, too, that
you should see it when the woods are fresh and green, as they
are now, with the brightness of June, which is about what the
middle of May is at home, and the river runs in full volume
and all the birds are jubilant with the honeymoon song. It is
delightful here this year and we are all en rapport with our
surroundings. I cannot but think that you would enjoy the trip up here as
much as I do. The scenery about Lake Champlain is the finest
in New York State and Montreal is as distinctly different from
our own cities as if it were over the seas; and then there is
Quebec and its suburbs, Montmorenci Falls and Beaufort, and
beyond it is the trip through the provinces of Quebec and New
Brunswick; and still beyond is Camp Albany, and, I think, a
most delightful trip up the river.

Wednesday, June 15.
Phair, Fish Commissioner of New Brunswick, came in on
his way up stream at luncheon time, but had already lunched.
Yesterday Messrs. Bartlett, Fairbanks and Bliss, on their way
to the Club fishing at Chamberlain Shoals and above, came in.
On the top of Santa Claus opposite, the very top, sat a white
object so still and motionless that it seemed a part of the tree
at first; a glass discovered it to be a hawk. Standing on the
porch, R. sighted "Honey Cooler" at him and picked him off.
Tom brought him in wounded and fierce, a grey hawk with

236 ABRAHAM LANSING
yellow talons and bill and bright grey eyes, a hardy, muscular
bird, small in size and so grey in plumage as to look white at
a distance— a hawk all over. Some drops of ammonia in his
throat ended his existence. Several of these hawks collected
on the opposite beach, perching on the trees by the river's
beach and watching there motionless, watching or sleeping.
D. O. from our beach below cut the tail from another with a
rifle ball sent to the opposite shore and brought the tail away
as neatly clipped as if done by shears ; the bird flew off without
a rudder. No fish to-day.

Friday, June 17.
McAndrew came up river, and took possession of his house.
This year he has a portable house, built, of course, last sum
mer, and to run out of the wet on runners ; a plan which seems
successful. When the snow falls, they ride it into the woods
on sleighs and after the spring freshet they ride it back again.
A patent, portable, peripatetic domicile, made to put up and
take down and pack away and to ride and roam at will; but
the old houses were features in the landscape, in harmony with
it; this is almost as bad as Haversham's house below, before
Captain Sweny got hold of it and made it the most picturesque
on the river of all the larger houses. It was occupied last sum
mer, but now looks more like the wart it is on the face of a
handsome landscape than then. The ladies are certain to
amend this and there is reason to think it too slight for the
midsummer sun which beats down on that unsheltered island.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 237
McAndrew says they never have flies there on the island, and
they do hardly ever; but they have smudges there sometimes,
most times.

Saturday, June 18.
The smoke house is in good order and the smoke is up and
our surplus fish go in there. And we blamed the raging seas,
and watched with watery eyes far into the night, and the re
flector broke at first trial.

Sunday, June 19.
About 10 we had our breakfast. At luncheon we had Cap
tain and Mrs. Sweny and others, and it was a merry party.
There were dinner-table talk and stories and the roof fairly
echoed with merriment. Stearns and Sanderson called also
during the luncheon, and awaited on the porch, declining to
join us at table. Higginson and others also called during the
day. We had a chowder, too, which R. made, and it came to a
hungry market, the basis whereof was fresh Ristigouche trout
and the other compoundings whereof are one of those things
which no one ever can find out. And we drank our coffee on
the porch and smoked there, and when the day had well ad
vanced toward its later hours, our guests had floated off down
stream, had received our salutes, and were out of sight. It
was very nice of Mrs. Sweny to send us word last week in
good season that they would come up on Sunday, and we were
ready to receive them, or had time to be.

238 ABRAHAM LANSING
Monday, June 20.
In the morning we captured one fish. He came out of the
camp pool at the slide. L. killed him and he weighed 25*4
pounds. And that was all the day's sport yielded in fish.
Trout, of course, are plenty.

Tuesday, June 21.
L. fished the camp pool again this morning and brought in
one fish weighing 23 pounds. In the afternoon he took an
other from the camp pool, weighing 23 pounds, and one from
the O. pool weighing 27 pounds. Raymond went out.

June 23.
C. H. R, (Charles H. Raymond) declares that this camp
more than realizes his most brilliant expectations and, though
he is an old woodsman, that it and its surroundings and em
ployments are in all respects unequalled in his experiences ; and
that he enjoyed himself here on his visit of ten days I am very
certain, and he was sorry to be compelled to leave.

June 24.
Have just heard of the death of the grand old Dr. Hopkins.
Through the young men educated under his instruction at

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 239
Williams College, he has exerted a wise and wholesome influ
ence upon the world. He was one of the most gifted men of
his time and held the admiration, esteem and love of all
who for fifty years past have received instruction at Williams.
He was imbued with the most profound philosophy, and was
filled with the beautiful, the poetic and the true. He had a
vivid imagination, subjected always to the control of an under
standing almost infallible. Joy and cheerfulness pervaded his
life, as "ether pervades the universe," and humor was his hand
maiden to do his bidding, to point a moral, or adorn a tale.
He died at the age of eighty-five, filled with the freshness of
youth, and his memory will be green and delightful as the
brightness and sweetness of these Canadian woods.
Sir John McDonald and lady passed up stream to-day in a
scow. They stayed last night a mile below us. It is quite
possible they intended to pass the night at Camp Albany, but
there was some little accident which may have prevented.
They would certainly have been much more comfortable with
us than in the house they occupied and their ill-conditioned
scow. D. O. says he never saw the foliage here so fresh and bright
as this year, and that nowhere else in his experience has he
known foliage so fresh and bright as here.

Monday, July 4.
Salute in the early morning. L. took a fish in the O. pools
weighing 13 24 pounds.

240 ABRAHAM LANSING

1888
Windsor Hotel, Montreal, June 14.
Reached here about a quarter to nine this morning, and
found D. O. and C. H. R. awaiting breakfast for me. To-day
we have been making purchases, and about 10 p. m. will leave
for Point Levi, opposite Quebec.

Friday, June 15.
Reached Point Levi on time; breakfasted at the Victoria,
where we saw Tom Hyer and the rest of the familiar faces
attendant at the ceremony which is there called breakfast and
paid for as such. Our old friend, the conductor on the Grand
Trunk, was there this morning, as he had been for years and
years of mornings without an intermission before. At Trois
Pistoles we dined and in the evening were at Matapedia and
the Club House. Mr. Thompson, with a special car from the
Pennsylvania Railroad, followed respectfully in the wake of
our train and he and his ladies, of course, reached the depot
in the same relative situation to us. They were carefully
switched onto a side track, there to make an abode, and we
wended our way among the throng of gazing Indians to our
luggage and thence to the hospitable home of the Ristigouche
Club. Mr. Catlin is dangerously ill at the Club House with gout.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 241
At table were Bartlett, General Penfold, Goelet, St. Gaudens,
White; Mr. Thompson with ladies at another table. Heard
here of the death of "Unser Fritz," the German Emperor,
by telegraph to some members of the Club and went to bed
seasonably.

Saturday, June 16.
Nelson loaded our trunks and impedimenta on his scow last
night and we made a start for Camp at 6j4 o'clock precisely,
half an hour later than the time assigned, as breakfast was
not prompt. Robert Goelet came with us on the scow as far
as Waterfalls, where he is to look at a piece of property with
fishing rights, if not fishing, attached. Mowat has a hand in
all land transfers on the river first or last and Mowat owns or
controls the strip.
At Camp Upsalquitch, Captain and Mrs. Sweny came out
in a boat to see us and rode a way with us and said they would
come up and see us in Camp. And Harry Sweny went up to his
fishing, where he pushed off and before we went out of sight
we saw him land a salmon. The day was cloudy without rain ;
the men boiled the kettle and we had some luncheon on the
scow. Dugald Ferguson's daughter, married and living in
Bangor, Maine, returning for a visit home with two children,
after a four years' absence, had come aboard before we
reached Dee Side. D. O. and L. paid their respects to Mrs.
Nelson. Near Harmony we passed Florence handling a
salmon. At his camp at Grog Island, Father Pratt, from the

242 ABRAHAM LANSING
shore where he came in from fishing when he saw us, said he
had directions to signal Florence by three rifle shots when we
came by, but we could not stop. At Waterfalls, Goelet left
us and found his companions, St. Gaudens and White, await
ing him. At Ferguson's we took on our camp equipage as
usual and soon after Hero Rapids came in sight and we landed
at Camp Albany a trifle before 4 p. m. Found all in good
plight and our kitchen built; got our stores up; had brought
up a kitchen stove which Nelson bought for us; got up the
stove; had the beds put up; the large box opened and stored
away in the kitchen storehouse; had a rude dinner, a fire on
the hearth and went to bed under mosquito bars — a necessary
precaution, as the insects, mosquitoes, are here in unusual
force. Had a conversation at Matapedia yesterday with McAlister,
for whom we had telegraphed about the Ferguson purchases,
and directed him to go down to Quebec and close the matter
and accede to the government's terms of two dollars per acre,
rather than lose the property, but to drive the best bargain
possible.

Sunday, June 17.
And plenty to do. Thermometer at 5 a. m. about 53. We
sat after dinner last evening on the porch. Goelet and White
and St. Gaudens came to call in the morning. Goelet found
that Mowat had title to only one lot at Waterfalls and gave
up the purchase for the present, as he desired more, the fishing

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 243
on one lot being of little value. Mr. and Mrs. Horn and
James, their son, paid us a visit and a good long one ; we could
not be excessive in our attentions, but they moved on at last
to visit Mr. McAndrew at Toad Brook.
Mr. McAndrew is in his new house at the brook; it com
mands a fine stretch of river up and down. Later in the day
McA. called. Stearns from Chamberlain Shoals was here at
the same time. We were finishing luncheon when McA. came
in and had quite a chat on the porch. Stearns was in bad
plight about his stores having failed to come on and was down
looking for supplies, which he got at Le Fergie's. He
(Stearns) lunched with us and in the afternoon went back to
Chamberlain Shoals, where he is alone. Dinner cooked on
stove in kitchen and we had a fine trout which Noel captured
over night in the net. He weighed nearly four pounds.

Monday, June 18.
Day bright. Thermometer at 5 a. m. about 53. O. fished
O. pools ; L. fished Camp and Princess pools.

Monday, June 25.
The dinner yesterday which was to have been at 6.30 p. m.
came off an hour earlier, as the guests reached here about 3
p. m. instead of 6, as expected. Only Florence and Heck-
scher came, and the dinner was in all respects good and Peter
did admirably. There was not a hitch in it "from the egg to

244 ABRAHAM LANSING
the apple"; and at 8 o'clock our guests went home, floating
down in their canoes.
The foliage is green and rich; the leaves have not yet
reached their full summer size and will not for two or three
weeks yet. The birds sent up a chorus of welcome for us
along the banks as we came up the river. They shouted out
"sweet weather" and "very convenient" and "kidgewick,"
with emphasis on the last syllable. Chickerderleguth screamed
back and forth before us from side to side. Wit-wit-wit went
along the course of the river and the familiar high and plain
tive note of the peabody came "over the hills and far away"
and from the branches almost within our reach. The moun
tain ash has just put forth its white blossoms and the squaw-
slipper is in full bloom. Two pitchers were filled with them
yesterday for our dinner and our visitors took them down
stream with them.
A fire occurred here about three weeks ago, starting from
Le Fergie's, the house just above Ferguson's, and spread
through the woods on the hills below us on the opposite banks.
An opportune shower put it out just before it reached our line
of vision, as we look down the stream from the camp piazza.
Had it spread further, it would have scarred and disfigured the
steep hills opposite and consumed Mr. McAndrew's new house
and Camp Albany, too, most likely, as its dry materials could
hardly have stood out against the intense heat which it would
have sent across the stream with the sparks.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 245

1889 Montreal, May 30.
We reached Montreal at about 10.45 p- M- last night, the
train being as usual a little late. The ride was not an
unpleasant one, as the landscape is fresh and bright and the
scenery, particularly along Lake Champlain, very beautiful.
To-night we leave about 9 p. m. for Point Levi; to-morrow
night we will D. V. pass at Matapedia and reach camp on
Saturday evening. To-day we called on Mrs. Barnard, who
was glad to see us.

June 6.
We reached here Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock. The
day was cool and cloudy. We took our luncheon at Dee Side,
where the men boiled the kettle. Peter Swasson, the cook,
Peter Soque and Noel Vicair, my Indians; Barney Barnaby
and his son, Dudley's two Indians ; for Raymond three canoes ;
the scow and three horses; Robert Nelson, the scow owner
and man in charge ; the steersman and the man who rode one
of the horses ; one or two passengers who availed themselves
of the opportunity to come part of the way up; our own im
pedimenta and a few stores for people living on the way con
stituted our crew and cargo. Logs were floating down the
lower part of the river, but all was clear at Camp and for some

246 ABRAHAM LANSING
miles below. Ferguson had the Camp and its vicinage in ex
cellent order and had built us new stairs.
Vegetation is probably three weeks behind us at home.
The wild cherry at the corner of the Camp is just in flower.
The woods are richly verdant with their half-grown leaves
and the light green of the poplars and birches is emphasized
by the dense and dark foliage of the conical spruces. Old
Santa Claus over the way still keeps his sentry opposite. Mc
Andrew's camp stands unoccupied, solemn and picturesque, at
Toad Brook. Peabody is here and tells us so continually, and
the great multitude of unknown songsters makes the solitude
eloquent. The air is cool with showers. June 10.
We went into the woods on Sunday (yesterday) and had
some hard climbing and walking. I found a little flower, an
orchid, which I picked and then regretted not taking up the
tiny plant, but could not find it. It was a steep side hill down
which we descended through fallen trees and thick brush —
very difficult going. The flower is so pretty and to me so rare
that I thought it might be something important in the orchid
line, and I have boxed it up in a small box and sent it to you
for Chatfield to tell what it is. June 1 6.
Entertained at dinner Dr. Mason from Brandy Brook and
Florence and his chum, Mr. Heckscher, from Camp Beatrice
at Grog Island. Dinner at 5 p. m.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 247
It is most charming here this bright Sunday, and the ther
mometer on the porch is 72 degrees. There is not a cloud in
the sunny sky and a pure fresh fern-scented breeze rustles the
foliage and sweeps over the bright clear water. Nothing
could be more perfect than the atmospheric conditions. The
squaw-slippers are just in bloom. The ash trees have not put
out their blossoms. They are beginning to show. The wild
lily and a few white flowers are in bloom. Later come a vari
ety of colors and the beautiful wild rose.

June 23.
Did not leave Camp on account of an easterly rain, which
kept up all day. Mr. McAndrew took luncheon with us, also
a Mr. Welch on his way to Camp Harmony; also a Mr. Den-
niston from Brandy Brook. All came by invitation and the
luncheon lasted from about 1.30 o'clock to between 4 and
5. We had pea soup and then some lamb hash with pota
toes and onions, served hot ; and baked beans, cold, with pork ;
radishes from our own bed and then lobster, dressed and gar
nished with lettuce; and then more radishes with some excel
lent cheese, with Bent crackers and black coffee.

June 29.
To-morrow (Sunday) we go down to Brandy Brook to
dinner and on Monday we expect Mr. Sweny's camp to
luncheon and on Tuesday or Wednesday we break camp.
Mr. McAndrew expects his family to-day. It is still pleasant

248 ABRAHAM LANSING
here, though growing warm. The fishing is over practically,
but the flowers bloom and the birds sing and the shadows come
and go and the Camp is breezy and aromatic. I have a wash
bowl full of wild roses, bud and bloom, upon the table, and a
large bunch of moccasin flowers. They are very fragrant.

1890
Windsor Hotel, Montreal, June 5.
We reached Montreal about up. m. C. H. R. joined us at
Saratoga, where we lunched — the most celebrated of all water
ing-places in America. A short distance south of Plattsburg
we reached Bluff Point. Here has been erected the Champlain
Hotel, to be opened the middle of this month, kept by the same
man who keeps the "Ponce de Leon" at St. Augustine, Fla.
The hotel was built by the railroad company at considerable
expense and it is to be run on the most approved and expensive
plan. We expect to leave here 8 a. m. to-morrow and reach
Point Levi in the evening. Will reach Matapedia at 12.50
a. m., arriving at Camp Saturday evening.

June 15.
We arrived safely at Camp in good season. It was a rainy
day and the water in the river high ; so high that we took a

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 249
wagon, or what corresponds to a buggy, to Dee Side, where
our scow, already laden with our stores, met us. The scow
had not gone down to Matapedia, the stores having been sent
on the day before. The Indians poled their canoes all the way
up to Camp.

June 25.
Yesterday afternoon D. O. took a 38^4 lb. fish, the largest
one our Camp has ever taken, and I think the largest taken
with fly on our river this season.
I write on the porch of our Camp. There are a number on
our river, but I really think not one which is so rustic and
picturesque as this. To my eyes it is way beyond any on the
river and so I think the general verdict of the river is. Mc
Andrew's is certainly more elaborate and very fine, but every
one to his taste, and we are, if not so pretentious, at least self-
satisfied and that is as much as mortal man can hope to be.

June 29.
You ask if I saw the Duke of Connaught. Do you remem
ber just before arriving at Matapedia, the station near Sir
George Stephen's, a very fine and imposing place ? Well, the
Duke was Sir George's guest and was with him there. When
we reached Matapedia, we found the depot hung with bunt
ing, placed there in honor of the Duke's arrival and not yet
removed. His Grace had gone on with Sir George to his fish-

250 ABRAHAM LANSING
ing grounds. The Duke had not yet taken any salmon. Sir
George's place is on the Matapedia River and his fishing is
upon that stream. For a number of years the fishing on that
river has been almost good for nothing ; owing to some unex
plained cause, salmon, once large and plenty there, are now
seldom taken. Some say it is because the river has been so
much "drifted," that is, netted with small nets. Some say that
the constant jar of passing railroad trains, since the building
of the railroad, disturbs them. Some say that some attempts
made by Sir George to improve his fishing by obstructing the
free passage of the fish in the river above him have resulted
disastrously. Whatever the cause may be, the fact exists that
very few salmon are taken. Efforts have been made to restock
the river, but I think with poor success.
Soon we will be leaving. The other fishermen on the river
will be folding their tents, but the stream remains and the
woods and the wild flowers and the Camp and sunshine over
the green forests. They never fold their tents, excepting of
course the verdure and the flowers.

1891
Ristigouche Salmon Club, Matapedia,
May 30, 5.45 a.m.
We reached here at midnight last night, and are just taking
breakfast. We start up the river as soon after as possible, say

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 251
7 o'clock. We are all well. Our Indians are here waiting
for us at the station and are now ready to go up stream. The
water in the river is too high to take a scow from here, so we
go up as far as Dee Side by wagon, which is just above Sage's
Camp. John Farnsworth met us at Plattsburg and gave us a
splendid dinner.

June 2.
Dr. Rainsford brought up your letter yesterday. The Rev.
Doctor had made his way from Matapedia that day and was
en route for the river above and the fishing. The air is cool
and not unpleasant; the river is high and swift; the buds are
just coming into leaf. Yesterday was, of course, our first
day's fishing. The train which brought us to Matapedia had
a number of club men, some 18, among them William K.
Vanderbilt, who extended the hospitalities of his special car
to the fellow-members of the Club. Vanderbilt now owns
Mr. Fearing's interest in Brandy Brook. He is there now.
He had gone up in a canoe before we did, Saturday, and we
saw him fishing in the stream as the scow passed up.

June 13.
The weather here is pleasant. Night before last we had a
shower with thunder and lightning. It cleared the air and
with some slight showers yesterday seems to have put out the

252 ABRAHAM LANSING
fires in the woods below and in our neighborhood, which made
the air heavy with smoke. The fish are very scarce.
On Sunday we went to the Chain of Rocks Brook, some
thing more than a mile. The woods were so tangled and
pathless that we waded up the stream— a fatiguing journey-
but the air was pleasant and the work gave us appetite for the
Gaspe lobsters which our friend and neighbor McAndrew
had sent over in our absence. The robins and peabody are
here ; they are just nest-building. June 21.
Dean Sage, who passed up yesterday with Messrs. Payne
and Whitney and Mr. Hanna, all on a scow bound for above,
just stopped here and will take this letter down with him.
They had luncheon with us and we were a very pleasant party.

June 23.
Yours of the 18th reached me while on the river at Brandy
Brook, where we were going to take dinner with Dr. and Mrs.
Mason at 1.30 p. m.

June 25.
We expect Mrs. Sweny, Mr. and Mrs. McPherson and Ike
Vanderpoel to lunch with us. On Tuesday next, June 29th,
we will in all probability break camp and leave for Albany, so
we will be back before "the glorious Fourth."

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 253

1892
June 26.
The woods are brighter, if anything, than ever. The fishing
is better than last year, but not equal to that of some other
years. Some robins are nesting near the Camp and busy from
the earliest light until late evening and they season their labor
with many and many a song. The peabody pipes in with his
shrill whistle and a multitude of other songsters swell the
refrain. July 8.
Letters received from home state that Capt. Sweny passed
away the day after the day fixed for his departure for Camp.
Poor Sweny! I can well imagine his longing for his camp
on the Upsalquitch as he lay racking with pain and fever in
his sick chamber. He will be missed on the river.

1893 June 20.
All is well here in Camp. We had three salmon yesterday,
two of which D. O. took — one of them a 29 lb. fish, a fine
salmon. These two with the one which I took are the only
fish taken by our Camp this year. Wind high this morning.

254 ABRAHAM LANSING
I will send moccasin plants as soon as they stop flowering.
Mr. McAndrew is here. June 23.
C. H. R. talks of going out the 2nd of July. My plan is to
go with him. Yesterday the event was the arrival of Mrs.
McA. and her sister. D. O. saw last Monday a family of the
caribou on the beach above Camp — the stag and his mate
and their two calves — the mother teaching the young to swim
in the river. Red deer have also been seen here this spring,
which is unusual. June 30.
We are all going out on Monday next, the three of us
together, and I will reach Albany D. V. about 7 p. m., July
5th. I write to tell Louisa to have Mr. Evans send my horse
and wagon for me. This morning a large cow caribou came
down just behind me. Richard Mann, who lives just below,
came up stream in his "dug-out," and called us to look at
them, and she went back into the woods, leaving her calf,
which Richard afterwards went ashore and captured. It was
a pretty sight. July 3.
We stopped at the camp of Mr. Sage, finding Mrs. Sage and
Sarah and Betty. It was very pleasant and they seemed to be
enjoying themselves. I found Sarah casting on the river for
salmon as I came down. Called on Mr. and Mrs. McAndrew
just before leaving. They have a beautiful camp. Mrs. McA.
and her sister, Mrs. Evans, are there.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 255
Albany, N. Y., July 6.
I reached here last evening about 7 p. m., by the Herki
mer & Malone R. R., that is, Dr. Webb's new railroad through
the Adirondacks to Montreal. At Herkimer we joined the
Empire State Express for Albany and came on at the rate of
nearly five miles in four minutes.

1894 Montreal, May 31.
To-morrow I expect to leave for Matapedia. A message
came to-day saying Mr. Sage would not be here to-night,
owing to a death in the family.

1895
Windsor Hotel, Montreal, June 6.
Reached Montreal on time last night. To-day we have
been busy completing an outfit for Camp. At 2.30 p. m. the
people of Montreal dedicated a statue to Sir John McDonald,
the late Premier of the Dominion Government. The statue
stands in the park upon which the Windsor faces and is a full-
length figure of the celebrated Canadian statesman. The
unveiling occurred in the presence of a large crowd of people.
The Governor General of Canada was present and other high
dignitaries and speeches were made by prominent men. I
send you a paper.

256 ABRAHAM LANSING
June 11.
The Camp is as pleasant as ever. Mr. McAndrew came
over from England, where he now lives, to occupy his Camp,
and Mrs. McAndrew is expected here Thursday week. The
foliage is fully out, the moccasin flower in bloom, and the
season more advanced than I have ever seen it before on our
arrival here. June 14.
Dean Sage and his brother William, Charles T. Barney
(who married Mary Whitney's sister) and a Mr. Dickerman,
whom we met 25 years ago at the Oquossic Club in Maine,
came in together from Camp Harmony and lunched and spent
the rest of the day with us. We had a very pleasant party on
the porch. June 23.
Mr. Sage still remains at Camp Harmony. You know that
Mr. Whitney (W. C.) and Col. Payne have purchased the
waters and premises formerly belonging to Captain Sweny
from Mrs. Sweny this last Winter; they have formed what
they call the Camp Harmony Angling Club, combining with
Sage and Lawrence, the owners of Camp Harmony, the fish
ing of the two properties. The Camp Harmony Angling Club,
consisting of Sage, Lawrence, Whitney and Payne, now have
some very excellent waters and as good fishing as any camp
on the river. What we enjoy especially here is the seclusion.
Excepting Mr. McAndrew of Camp Inverburne there are no
inhabitants near us, and we are, as you know, surrounded by
the woods.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 257
Last Sunday we took a long stroll into the woods, starting
in where we went up one day when you were here. We went
far back into the woods, and while we did not actually see any
larger animals than a red squirrel we undoubtedly heard the
calls of a bear and her cubs near by. The sounds were so
much like the voices of men that we were at first disposed to
think them so, but sitting and waiting upon a log and lis
tening it became apparent that the noises were those of animals
and those of bears. We were disappointed not to have had a
look at them. Probably as the wind set in their direction from
us, the keen noses of the cubs, who had strayed off from their
dear mamma's presence, detected us and they set up a cry for
maternal protection, to which cry she presently answered.
We were in no peril, the party being abundantly provided with
implements of warfare, and the disposition of the animal is to
avoid encountering mankind. Of course the maternal instinct
of the mother bear would cause her to resist and assail any
attack upon her cubs. Hearing or smelling us, the family
probably made off to a safe distance.

1896
Ristigouche Salmon Club,
Matapedia, June 6
Reached here about 1 p. m. yesterday, and go immedi
ately up the stream to Camp. Found the weather cool ; there

258 ABRAHAM LANSING
was a change from warmer yesterday afternoon. A fire in the
Club House is altogether comfortable. Camp Albany, June 14.
I have taken 18 fish, the largest 31 pounds, which I send out
to-morrow to Judge Gray at Saratoga. The river is high and
all the better for that. The sun is out and it is a most charm
ing Sunday. June 30.
Last Saturday Dr. and Mrs. Seward Webb, who were at
Brandy Brook with Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt, came up to fish
the McAndrew waters opposite. Mrs. Webb landed in all
nine fish. They took their midday meal with us by previous
invitation, and went off seemingly well pleased with their visit.
Mr. McAndrew offers his waters for sale. July 4.
The Camp is now being dismantled by degrees, and on
Monday afternoon it will be closed, when we leave it en route
for home. This morning at 7 I went out to Hero Rapids,
and took three fish— the largest 25 pounds, which I send to
you.

1898 June 9.
We have just arrived at Camp and have our hands full to
get ready for sleeping to-night.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 259
June 14.
I send you by to-day's mail-boat a fine salmon in perfect
condition and weighing 34 pounds. This is the largest fish I
have ever sent to you. June 23.
You ask how we found the Camp. Well, we reached here
on the 9th at 3.15 p. m. and found the Camp opened and
cleaned. This had been done, of course, by the Fergusons,
and made ready for occupation. It looked very comfortable
and cozy and the surroundings green and fresh. The grounds
were somewhat grown up in places and they have had a trim
ming out since, which has improved both their appearance and
comfort. Then in due time the Indians turned to and mowed
the grass, and with the hammocks swinging, the tent put up,
the lockers filled and all the innumerable collection of crockery
and household goods set in such order as the circumstances
admitted, the old Camp never looked more winsome to me.
I have never found it more comfortable or congenial on the
weatherbeaten porch by day, or by its bright wood fire at
night, or when its eaves are dripping with the dew of the early
morning than now. Now the birds and squirrels and a splen
did brood of partridges, but a few days old, are gradually be
coming more and more friendly with us.
Yesterday we had smoked salmon for our breakfast, "mild-
cured" they term it, and it seemed to me the best we ever had.
You remember old Peter Soque, my Indian of all these years.
Well, Peter was chief of the smoke-house and we thought he
did the smoking so well that no one else could satisfy us in

260 ABRAHAM LANSING
that way. Old Peter is dead since last Christmas. He is a
great loss to our camp and to me particularly, and I was very
much attached to him. In his place I have Noel Vicaire, who
has been with me during the same time as Peter, and was one
of my "crew," as they term it. Naturally he came to Peter's
place as his successor, and with him he has his son, a boy of
1 8 years. I do not think any boat on the river has a more
willing or complete crew than mine. But Noel has also suc
ceeded to the mantle of Peter as manager of the smoked-
salmon-department, and he is doing himself great credit in
that way. The trouble with this mild-cured salmon is that it
will not keep in warm weather, and ice and moisture are un
congenial to it. Peter Swasson is still our cook, and Moise, who
came up to us when but a child, is back again after the experi
ence of one year's absence, in which he seems to have realized
the necessity for being a better boy. Moise is now as atten
tive to the preparation of smudges on any and all occasions
and the bringing of water from the stream and the clearing
up of papers and other litter and the helping of Peter in the
kitchen as any one could wish and is a very excellent lad of
all work.
Mr. Robert Goelet now occupies his Camp (the McAndrew
Camp) and is there with Mr. Stanford White, the architect.
Last summer there were ladies, Mrs. White and others, with
the party, but one season seems to have been enough for them.
At all events there are no ladies at the Camp now. Mr. Goelet
called on us the day of our arrival and also sent us a note ask
ing us -to take dinner with him that evening, as our camp was
not in order. We, of course, in due time returned the call and

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 261
afterwards on one of those very windy days, when fishing
was almost impossible, he and Mr. White came over and
passed some time with us. Last Saturday they went down to
the Club House for a few days, or we should have asked them
to dine with us on Sunday. They returned yesterday after
noon, bringing with them a Mr. Riggs of New York, upon
whom we must call, and possibly we may ask them over for
dinner on Sunday, or luncheon earlier. At the Brandy Brook
Camp are Mr. Hollins and Chester Griswold.
We had a call from the Governor General of Canada — Lord
Aberdeen — who passed perhaps half an hour on his way up
stream to Cross Points, where he is now fishing. He seemed
to be a very agreeable and pleasant-mannered gentleman, and
was kind enough to ask us to call on him, if we were going up
the stream as far as his Camp. His call was due, I apprehend,
to the fact that D. O. had met his Lordship at dinner at
Brandy Brook last summer, upon the invitation of Mr. Ken
nedy, and when D. O. went out he placed our fishing at the
services of the Governor General and Mr. Kennedy. We had
a very pleasant interview with him and he seemed particularly
well pleased with the location and surroundings of Camp
Albany. June 24.
I wrote you yesterday. Your letter of the 20th came just
as we were going to breakfast. It was brought up by Tom
Metalic, who during the one summer when Peter Swasson
could not come up served us as our cook. He now goes up
and down the river with mail, etc., from Lord Aberdeen's

262 ABRAHAM LANSING
Camp at Cross Points, a beautiful stretch of water 12 or 15
miles above us. Tom invariably stops at Camp Albany on his
way up and down and is, like all the other Indians on the river,
very fond of the old Camp. Poor Tom ! On his way down
day before yesterday he reached Matapedia just in time to
hear that his barn, with his pigs, his plough, his harrow, his
harness and wagon and about all his agricultural possessions
had been burned — the work, he thinks, of an incendiary.
Tom, besides being a cook and a boatman, is a constable at the
Mission. Drunkenness is a lamentable feature in Indian life,
they tell us, and Tom, who is himself not addicted to that vice,
has recently found it necessary to discipline some young men
who are, whenever opportunity offers, hinc Mae lachrymae, as
the Latins were in the habit of saying. June 28.
On Sunday we had our two boats lashed together and were
towed up the river as far as Indian House (17 miles above our
Camp), further up stream than either of us had been before.
The day was cloudy with occasional dashes of rain, which we
did not mind at all with our rubber coats on and rubber
blankets. We took our luncheon at Indian House in a drizzle
of rain upon a convenient log on the beach — some ham sand
wiches and hard boiled eggs — and having started from Camp
at 6.35 a. m., breakfasting at 5.45, we were able to enjoy it
hugely. Having had this repast, we made a call upon Robert
Goelet, who with Mr. Stanford White and Mr. Riggs are tar
rying there for a week, and were most hospitably received.
At 2.50 p. m. our canoes having been unlashed, and our horse,

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 263
which was ridden up in towing us by Alexander Ferguson
(the bridegroom of last summer), and driver having been dis
missed to make their way back, we began to paddle back to
Camp. Of course, our Indians went up with us and did the
paddling. My Indians this year are, as I have already men
tioned, Noel, whom you know, and Larry Vicaire, Noel's son,
named for old Larry who was Dudley's canoeman so many
years and who was chosen to man the canoe of the Princess
Louise when she fished here. The young Larry is about 18
years of age and an excellent fellow and I am well pleased
with my crew. It had taken us six hours and nine minutes to
reach Indian House ; the average time made in towing canoes
is about three miles per hour. We paddled back in two hours
and forty-eight minutes, reaching Camp again at 5.30 p. m.
Our trip up river was very interesting. Some 17 or 18 years
since, when I first visited the river, we camped at a brook and
salmon pool known as "Red Pine Mountain," some six or
seven miles above here. From that camp at that time we had
visited many of the pools above or about there, — Twin Brooks,
Toms Brook, Pine Island, Cross Point and other places — all
of which it was most pleasant to see again; but we had never
reached Indian House, the most celebrated point of the river,
at least up stream. At Toms Brook I had first seen a salmon
leap from the water, and at Cross Point I had taken my first
salmon. Our day's experience was a rare and pleasant one.
I had almost said that I was sorry to have seen Indian
House; it is so picturesque and beautiful there in its wildness,
and the winds and turns of the river among the surrounding
hills, and its extended outlooks in all directions. The water

264 ABRAHAM LANSING
there is 50 feet in depth in places. There is a fine house there,
which now belongs to the Club; it was built by Mr. Breeze,
"Jimmy Breeze," of New York, and is well done. He sold it,
after the panic a few years ago and the disaster in Cordage
Stock, to the Club for $35,000; I think that was the figure. It
is well worth that sum as prices go for fishing here and would
be marketable, I should say, at a considerably larger sum.
Indian House was the intended end of our journey and of
course we did not venture to go above in one day, but there
are camps and pools many above,— viz. : Patapedia, Devil's
Half Acre, Little Cross Point, etc., — away up to the mouth of
the Kedgewick. Some four miles above Indian House Wil
liam K. Vanderbilt has his camp.
Cross Point is so called because there is there what in the
Adirondacks we used to term an ox-bow. Perhaps you re
member one which we crossed on Racket River. As you
travel the stream there is a bend or loop in it. The distance
around the loop is more than a mile, but the distance across
the land is very little, hence cross or across point. To mark
the portage many years ago some one put a stick across a pole
and ever since a cross has marked it. If the wind or snow
destroys or interferes with it, straightway it is put up again.
But the rocky and heavily wooded hills rise there high above
the river and, while the distance across the tops is little, the
way up to the top is steep and difficult, and travelers make
their way by the stream and do not attempt to carry over on
the Racket with a somewhat similar loop. The boats are car
ried on the level ground and a few feet into the river on the
other side.

THE LOG BOOK OF CAMP ALBANY 265
Camp Albany,
Ristigouche River, June 22, 1908.
Here, in the places for so many summers made glad by his
presence and now always dear for his memory, Abraham Lan
sing is held high in honor by all who knew him, is held revered
and loved in the remembrance of those who knew him well.
Nowhere was he more his varied self than amid the living for
ests which he reverenced and on the rushing waters which he
thoughtfully and wisely loved. Upon this spot he lavished
that great love of nature which gave him such happiness in
its revelations and which shone so purely in the utterances of
his lips and in the running of his facile pen. Here, in his
communings with wild woods and waters, he was wont to
give expression to the deep sentiments of his own noble nature
and to find play for recollections of the thoughts and descrip
tions of the great authors with whose works he was so fa
miliar. Himself a writer of original and intellectual verse, he
took pleasure in quoting, to supplement his own poetic fancies,
those students of nature whose footsteps echo
Down the corridors of time.
A philosopher, he loved to repeat here in the wilderness the
maxims and the words of wisdom of ancient and modern
sages whose philosophy served to adorn the daily walks of his
own mental being.
In this camp, of many a quaint and curious feature, either
due to his suggestion or in the construction of which he aided,
and a great and integral part of which he was, all things bear

266 ABRAHAM LANSING
the impress of his individuality or are relics of his occupation.
His dictionary still lies upon the shelf; his favorite set of
Shakespeare rests upon the table ; his own great salmon rod
hangs along the wall ; and now below it hangs his portrait, the
gift in later years of faithful love, set in its place by the hands
of revering friendship.
Camp Albany would earnestly offer this memory of him as
a fisher with the fly: his deeply cogitated knowledge of the
ways of the salmon he united with shrewd reasoning on the
natural causes affecting them; the color of the water, the
shadow of the cloud, the depth of the pool, determined the se
lection and size of his fly; then, with easy, though long-
studied, skill with the rod — skill which no fisherman on the
river could hope to surpass — he would bring all his piscatorial
lore into successful practice. To watch his tall, graceful form
while casting on the river was to see the exemplar of the ac
complished fisherman ; the man, the rod, the line were together
but the extension and the completion of artistic and practical
perfection. Grave and dignified, yet genial; habitually courteous; by
birth and breeding a gentleman, by education a scholar, by in
spiration a poet, he adorned and elevated the social centers
wherein he moved. A soul of high meditation and resolve,
a heart of courage and honor, an intellect broad, analytic and
dispassionately just; charitable in thought and deed, excep
tional in the purity and nobility of the example he set before
his fellow men, Abraham Lansing shed moral and intellectual
benefit upon all who came within his influence.
Charles H. Raymond.