524 LETTERS TO DARWIN AND OTHERS. [1864, 



among their well-to-do acquaintances in Boston, not 

 beginning till late in January, under the idea that the 

 fair for the Sanitary Commission had perhaps ex- 

 hausted their friends' purses. Since then, far greater 

 and more pressing demands have been made upon 

 the benevolent and the public-spirited, for a variety 

 of good objects ; and our affair has gone slowly in 

 consequence. 



I have not heard for a week respecting it, but a 

 week ago the sum subscribed was a little less than 

 seven thousand dollars, the greater part in sums of 

 $ 500 each. The $ 10,000 is obviously secure, for sub- 

 scribers of $100 each, yet to be appealed to, may be 

 relied on for a good part of the lacking sum. But 

 it begins to be clearly seen that $12,000 are needed 

 for the capital of the fund, and this, at the present 

 rate, it will take some time to secure. 



Your own offer of a small subscription, I can truly 

 say, not only gratified me in the highest degree, as an 

 expression of an interest in our affair which I had no 

 reason to expect, but has already been of use, has 

 really been as good for us as any contribution you 

 ought to make. For I took the liberty to read that 

 portion of your letter to three or four friends, and 

 their interest in the matter was sensibly quickened 

 and exalted by this evidence of the lively interest in 

 the matter taken by a country parson, far away in 

 England! So pray consider that you have already 

 helped us on, and we are truly grateful to you for 

 your generous proffer. There is, indeed, a strong 

 temptation to accept your kind offer in the fact that, 

 in the present state of exchanges, owing to our paper 

 currency not on a specie basis (one of the sad conse^ 

 quences of our civil war), every pound sterling in 



