Just to prove him, once, I
said, 'Are you acquainted with Salt Lake City?' 'Pretty well,' he
answered modestly. Having spent a summer or two there, myself, I
thought I would try and trip him up, so said, carelessly, 'When I stood
in front of Brigham Young's Square and looked at that great town on my
left'--but there he interrupted me, quick as a flash, 'You mean looked
down upon the town at your right, don't you? Brigham's Square is on
what is called the North Bench, and standing before it you must
overlook the larger part of the city lying upon your right.' Of course
this was correct, and I had to acknowledge that he really knew as much
about many localities as I, who had visited them. But he was unusual."
"Well," said Dwight slowly, "what I have to complain of about travelers
is that they don't tell the little things--the details, you know. I
suppose it seems silly to them to say whether they went on board a
steamer in a boat, or across a gangway, or up a flight of steps, or to
describe just how a car looks when they travel by rail, but I used to
wish they would. And when I write my book of travels I'm going to!"
"I would," said his sister encouragingly.
"Well, you wait! But say, uncle, there are some books in your library
at home that you used to have when you were a boy, I reckon, for the
pictures look about a century old, but I used to like to read them ever
so much, and since I came abroad I've been finding out how well they
describe the things that happen to a traveler even to-day.
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