I called upon him in New York at his office, where we had a pleasant chat of an hour. His office was plain, without carpets, the floor was worn rough, rather than smooth, and the appearance of the rooms was a striking contrast to the editorial rooms of prosperous journalists generally. My experience at Cairo gave me a poor opinion of Fremont's qualities as a business man, but in the early part of his career he had exhibited capacity of a high order as a bold and successful explorer of the then unknown regions of the Rocky Mountains. He had also exhibited genius as a soldier, which led to high expectations which were not realized when he came to important commands in the Civil War. My studied opinion of General Fremont is contained in an article that I prepared for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which society he was an honorary member: ARTICLE ON GENERAL FREMONT It is a singular circumstance in the career of John C. Fremont that his important services as an explorer and his contributions to science were brought to a close when he was scarcely more than thirty-four years of age. He was born in the State of Georgia in the year 1813, and from the year 1842 to the year 1846 inclusive, he undertook and carried to a successful result three expeditions from the Mississippi River across the plains, and finally over both chains of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Jefferson, during his administration had realized the importance of securing "open over-land commercial relations with Asia," as stated in one of his messages to Congress, and, as a preparation for establishing such relations with Asia, he originated and organized the expedition of Lewis and Clark, whose duty it was to trace the affluents of the Columbia River now known as Snake River and Clarke's Fork. Fremont's early education was obtained under the charge largely of Dr. John Roberton, a Scotchman, who had been educated at Edinburgh, and who had established himself at Charleston, S. C., as a teacher of the ancient languages. Dr. Roberton says that in the space of a year Fremont read four books of Caesar, six books of Vergil, nearly all of Horace, and two books of Livy; and in Greek, all the Graeca Minora, about half of the Graeca Majora, and four books of Homer's Iliad. At the end of a year he entered the Junior Class of Charleston College, where he gained high standing for study and in scholarship; but for insubordination he was expelled from the college.