ur--your saying that you were coming here reminded me that it was
a place I ought to see."

"I'm glad to have served you as a guide-book."

"And I hope you are not sorry that I--"

At this moment Mrs. Benson and Mr. Meigs came down with the announcement
of the dinner hour, and the latter marched off with the ladies with a
"one-of-the-family" air.

The party did not meet again till evening in the great drawing-room. The
business at the White Sulphur is pleasure. And this is about the order
of proceedings: A few conscientious people take an early glass at the
spring, and later patronize the baths, and there is a crowd at the
post-office; a late breakfast; lounging and gossip on the galleries and
in the parlor; politics and old-fogy talk in the reading-room and in the
piazza corners; flirtation on the lawn; a german every other morning
at eleven; wine-parties under the trees; morning calls at the cottages;
servants running hither and thither with cooling drinks; the bar-room
not absolutely deserted and cheerless at any hour, day or night; dinner
from two to four; occasionally a riding-party; some driving; though
there were charming drives in every direction, few private carriages,
and no display of turn-outs; strolls in Lovers' Walk and in the pretty
hill paths; supper at eight, and then the full-dress assembly in the
drawing-room, and a "walk around" while the children have their hour in
the ballroom; the nightly dance, witnessed by a crowd on the veranda,
followed frequently by a private german and a supper given by some
lover of his kind, lasting till all hours in the morning; and while
the majority of the vast encampment reposes in slumber, some resolute
spirits are fighting the tiger, and a light gleaming from one cottage
and another shows where devotees of science are backing their opinion
of the relative value of chance bits of pasteboard, in certain
combinations, with a liberality and faith for which the world gives
them no credit. And lest their life should become monotonous, the
enterprising young men are continually organizing entertainments, mock
races, comical games. The idea seems to prevail that a summer resort
ought to be a place of enjoyment.

The White Sulphur is the only watering-place remaining in the United
States where there is what may be called an "assembly," such as might
formerly be seen at Saratoga or at Ballston Spa in Irving's young days.
Everybody is in the drawing-room in the evening, an