There I first met Mr. Frederick E. Sickels, the inventor of the trip cut-off; that immortal man who conceived the idea of tripping the valve mechanism of a steam-engine at any point in its opening movement, thus releasing the valve and permitting it to be suddenly closed. He had come over to exhibit his steam steering gear, which is now used throughout the world. It was astonishing how little attention it attracted. He had it connected and showed it in operation. While he turned the wheel precisely as the steersman did, the steam did all the work of moving the rudder and holding it in any position. Nobody seemed to take the slightest interest in it. I attributed this largely to his mistake in showing a very rough affair, the very thing which he thought would add to its effect. He had an apparatus that had been used on a coasting steamer which was captured by the Confederates and employed by them as a blockade-runner, and afterwards captured by our cruisers, taken into New York and condemned. He bought this gear out of it at auction and sent it to the exhibition just as it was. He believed that the more evidences of neglect and rough usage it showed, the greater admiration its perfect action would inspire. He learned better. Polished iron and brass and mahogany would have led people to believe that he himself thought it was worth showing properly. The picture gallery in the second story of the main building of this exhibition was really wonderful. Its most prominent feature was a collection of paintings representing the progress of British art from the days of Hogarth. All Europe was represented. I was told that the entire wall surface was seven eighths of a mile long. We also had a gallery of American art, consisting of a number of remarkable large photographs of the Yosemite Valley, California, and one painting. Mr. J. F. Cropsey, an American landscape artist of considerable celebrity at home, had formed a scheme for establishing himself in London. He took with him a number of his works. His _pièce de résistance_ was “Autumn on the Hudson,” which was greatly admired and for which he was offered a large price, but he preferred to show it in London. He had sent it to the National Gallery, and, to his consternation, it was refused, the committee declaring that there were no such colors in nature. It also offended the English taste, by which our autumnal tints are regarded as “very gaudy,” so he hung it in Mr. Holmes’ office at the exhibition. He and I had each a lot to learn about the way things look to our cousins. CHAPTER VIII Sale of Governors. Visit from Mr. Allen. Operation of the Engine Sold to Easton, Amos & Sons. Manufacture of the Indicator. Application on Locomotives.