und, with a few not
very high hills round it, with shafts piercing them, and then dotted all
about on the outskirts with tents; then board houses of one story high,
looking rather like sheds for gardeners' tools, and then in the middle
a few stone and frame habitations, and standing out among the rest the
Nelson building, a hideous structure of grey stone making the corner
of a block. We got from the train and climbed into motors; to see them
seemed strange in such a wild; we ought to have been met by a Buffalo
Bill stage coach;--but there they were. It was a gorgeous sunset, but a
wind like a mistral cutting one in two, and such clouds of dust, that
even driving to the hotel our hair all looked drab coloured. The hall
was full of miners, some of them in what is as near an approach to
evening dress as is permitted; that is, ordinary blue serge or flannel
suits, with sometimes linen collars and ties; the others in the dress I
have already told you about that Nelson wears. Nearly all were young,
not twenty per cent. over forty, and none beyond fifty, and they were
awfully nice-looking and strong, and couldn't possibly have bruised if
you hit them hard!

We raced through and up to our rooms, and can you believe it, Mamma,
each bedroom had a splendid bath room, and all as modern as possible;
there was not a sign of roughing it. The Senator said we were not really
to dress as in the East--only "sort of Sunday." He was greeted by
everyone with adoring respect that yet had a casual ease in it, and when
we were all bathed and combed and tidy we found he had a dinner party
awaiting us--two women and about six men. The women were so nice and
simple, but we naturally had not much chance to speak to them--the men
were next us, superintendents of mines, and owners, and selected ones
who have "made good." They were such characters, and seemed to bring a
breezy delightful atmosphere with them. The Eastern America seemed as
far away as England; much farther really, because all these people have
exactly the casual, perfectly sans gene manners of at home: not the "I'm
as good as you, only one better," but the sort that does not have to
demonstrate because the thought has never entered its head. You know
Octavia's and Tom's and Harry's manner, Mamma;--well, just the same; I
can't describe it any other way. It is the real thing when you are not
trying to impress anyone, just being you, and what you are. I can only
say even if their words a