The Letters of William James, Vol. 1James, William
General
The Letters of William James, Vol. 1
James, William
Intellectuals -- United States; James, William, 1842-1910; Philosophers -- United States; Psychologists -- United States
I like Mrs. Upham's very much. Dark, aristocratic dining-room, with
royal cheer--"fish, roast-beef, veal-cutlets or pigeons?" says the
splendid, tall, noble-looking, white-armed, black-eyed Juno of a
handmaid as you sit down. And for dessert, a choice of three, _three_ of
the most succulent, unctuous (no, not unctuous, unless you imagine a
celestial unction without the oil) pie-ey confections, always two plates
full--my eye! She has an admirable chemical, not mechanical, combination
of jam and cake and cream, which I recommend to mother if she is ever at
a loss; though she has no well-stored pantry like that of good old 13
Kay Street; or if she has, it exists not for miserable me. I get up at
six, breakfast and study till nine, when I go to school till one, when
dinner, a short loaf and work again till five, then gymnasium or walk
till tea, and after that, visit, work, literature, correspondence, etc.,
etc., till ten, when I "divest myself of my wardrobe" and lay my weary
head upon my downy pillow and dreamily think of dear old home and Father
and Mother and brothers and sister and aunt and cousins and all that the
good old Newport sun shines upon, until consciousness is lost. My time
last week was fully occupied, and I suspect will be so all winter--I
hope so.
This chemical analysis is so bewildering at first that I am entirely
"muddled and beat"[22] and have to employ most all my time reading up.
Agassiz gives now a course of lectures in Boston, to which I have been.
He is evidently a great favorite with his audience and feels so himself.
But he is an admirable, earnest lecturer, clear as day, and his accent
is most fascinating. I should like to study under him. Prof. Wyman's
lectures on [the] Comp[arative] anatomy of vert[ebrates] promise to be
very good; prosy perhaps a little and monotonous, but plain and packed
full and well arranged (_nourris_). Eliot I have not seen much of; I
don't believe he is a _very_ accomplished chemist, but can't tell yet.
Young [Charles] Atkinson, nephew of Miss Staigg's friend, is a very nice
boy. I walked over to Brookline yesterday afternoon with him to see his
aunt, who received me very cordially. There is something extremely good
about her. The rest of this year's class is nothing wonderful. In last
year's there is a son of Prof. Peirce, whom I suspect to be a very
"smart" fellow with a great deal of character, pretty independent and
violent though. [Storrow] Higginson I like very well. [John] Ropes is
always out, so I have not seen him again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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