... This occurred about 1865, while I was staying at my brother-in-law John Neilson's house at Purgatory, and he was boarding at Peckham's near by and working on some of his best landscapes. La Farge used to come over to John Neilson's a good deal that summer to play croquet. John was the best croquet player I have ever seen — it was a scientific game in those days — and La Farge was absolutely the worst. We used to call him "Johnny Croquet." Old Peckham, a regular Down East Yankee, long, thin, with an inimitable drawl and a lot of dry humor, used to take La Farge and John Neilson out fishing. John, who liked a good story, said that one day when they were fishing with drop lines and sport was dull, as La Farge's line floated close to Peckham— La Farge all the time intent upon some distant eff"ect of atmosphere or light— Peckham gave the line a tremendous pull. Suddenly recalled to mundane things, La Farge pulled in his line in great excitement and could not understand why there was nothing on it. John said that for years after La Farge used to speak of that whale he almost caught. ...
