CHAPTER XIX.
SALMON P.CHASE Among the very interesting characters with whom I have formed an acquaintance in Washington was Chief Justice Salmon P.
Chase.

I saw him but a few times.

But on those occasions he spoke to me with a freedom with which famous public men seldom speak, even to intimate friends.

I incline to think it was his habit to speak freely to comparative strangers.
But of that I know nothing.
When I first went to Washington, in the spring of 1869, I was invited by Commissary-General Eaton, whose daughter was the wife of my cousin, to attend a meeting of a club at his house.

The club was composed of scientific men who met at each other's houses.