WCP431

[1]

Boston, Dec^r. 19th. [1886]¹

My dear Annie²

I got back here on Saturday week, Dec. 11th, and to my great disappointment found there were no engagements for me & I have been staying here idle since[.] Several people have told me they did not know I was going to lecture anywhere but at Lowell, so evidently Mr. Williams³ has not managed as well as he sh^d. have done though he says he has done more for me than for any other lecturer he has ever had. There are a few applications from Ohio and he has just sent out a lot of new circulars of which I send one with one of our bills of fare here, to Violet.⁴ I have also got some advertisements put in some American scientific papers, and may thus hope to get enough lectures to pay my expenses to [2] California & back but it costs about twice as much from here to California as from here to London. It seems to me that people have been rather bored with Natural History, & prefer Art, or Travels, or Battles, or something more exciting. Although the weather has been very changeable and last Thursday down to 5º^. (17 below freezing) I have got rid of my cold & feel quite well. I expect I shall leave here for Washington in a week & try and live a little cheaper there during the winter, & then go to California about March or April. I have been looking at Museums here & shall try and write an article about them for "Harris",⁵ when I get quietly settled at Washington. I find I brought twice as many things as I wanted & am going to pack up half my clothes & [3] sundries, & leave them here till I come home as the packing & unpacking so many things is a great nuisance. On Friday night I had to go out to dinner about as far as to Mr. Davies’, so as it was a cold night I thought I would give my fur coat a trial, but I never mean to wear it again! I had to walk through a series of "Oh!’s" — "look there!" "There’s a bear!" — the whole way under a blaze of electric lights! Worse than in London! So I shall pack it up and leave it here till I come back. The coat I had made in Guildford is absolutely unwearable with my thick flannels on, it is so tight, so I shall wear my frock coat constantly wh. I never wear at home & the Guildford coat will do for summer wear with their vests when I come back. I have also pile twice as many shirts as I want & [4] the lifebelt, picnic basket, hanging hooks — & many other things are quite useless & a great nuisance to me. The most useful thing I brought is those rubber or felt overshoes. Everybody wears them here owing to the quantity of mud & slush in the streets, & they keep my boots clean & dry so that they even want blacking. I shall adopt them for the garden when I come home.

I suppose this will reach you about, the new year, and as I suppose you will be persuaded to stay at Hurst⁶ I shall send this inclosed to your father⁷ who I hope has got the land he thinks of buying. The weather here is quite as changeable as in England. The snow storm of Thursday last was followed by a hard frost on Friday, a thaw onf Saturday with regular muggy London weather & to day it is quite mild and bright, while another snowstorm is announced!

With best love | Your affectionate Husband | A R Wallace [signature]

[in marign on page 1] Yours of Dec. 1st. with account of your Dinner received.