We dined & stayed all night with Tom Nast & family, & had a most noble good time. I occupied his eldest daughter’s room—Miss Julia Nast, aged about 20—the most remarkable room I was ever in—a curious & inexhaustible museum. Not an inch of the four walls could be seen—all hidden under pictures, photographs, etchings, photographs, Christmas cards, menus, fans, statuettes, trinkets & knickknacksⒶemendation in all metals—little brackets everywhere, with all imaginable dainty & pretty things massed upon them & hanging from them—the most astounding variety of inexpensive & interesting trifles that was ever huddled together upon four walls in this world. It took me an hour to undress, & another hour to dress, because my eyes were so busy & the new surprises were so constant & so engaging. She asked me this morning to give her a name for her room, & I told her to call it “Ch “Cesnola’s Despair.” I would like to see Susie’s room decorated in that way. The thing is easy, & occupies years: whenever you get hold of a new trifle, nail it to the wall with a pin. At a rough guess I should say there are 3,000 pretty trifles in Julia Nast’s room. They didn’t cost more than 3,000 dimes, perhaps, but they are worth twenty times the money to look at.

I love you, my darling, I hope you had a good birth-dayⒶemendation——& now I must stop, as the cars have started again