Before  dinner  we  took  a  little  stroll  in  the  grounds,
looking  at  the  stables  niched  into  the  side  of  a  hill,
with  imposing  stone  front,  and  spending  some  time  in
the  fernery,  which  is  really  exquisite,  with  a  lovely
stone  fountain  trickling  into  a  mossy  stone  basin;


A   SKETCH    OF  ME.   SHARON.  133

grottoes,  rock  work,  and  dewy  coverts,  where  wave
every  graceful  species  of  fern  of  which  the  world  can
boast.  The  barbaric  tones  of  the  gong  summoned  us
away  to  a  less  ethereal  feast  before  we  had  half  dono
with  this,  and  entering  the  dining-room  we  sat  down
fourteen  at  the  table  which,  in  Kalston's  time,  often
accommodated  a  hundred  guests.  A  great  pyramid  of
flowers  and  a  bouquet  at  each  plate  made  the  table  as
lovely  and  as  fragrant  as  a  garden,  and  the  genial
and  interesting  conversation  was  a  dangerous  rival  to
the  sumptuous  dinner  set  before  us.
Mr.  Sharon,  as  we   have  said,  was  the  friend  and
partner  of  the  unfortunate  Ealston,  assumed  many  of
his  debts,  and  accepted  much  unremunerative  property
in   satisfaction   of  his   own  claims.     He  is  a  man  of
wonderful  instinctive  appreciation  of  character,  a  gift
affecting   his   general  manner ;   for,  while  remarkably
frank   and    outspoken    among    those  whom   he    finds
congenial,  he   is   chilling   and   reserved  to  those  who
impress  him  unfavorably.     He  is  a  man  of  great  and
comprehensive  ability,  and  has  need  of  it  in  attending,
as  closely  as  he  does,  not  only  to  his  duties  as  United
States  Senator  from  Nevada,  but  to  the  care  of  his
own  colossal  fortune  and  domestic  duties.     But  with
all  of  these  he  has  Byron,  and  Moore,  and  some  of  our
more   modern    poets   at    his   fingers*  ends,  and    is    a
vivacious     and    most    entertaining     conversationalist.
