THE YOUNG PROFESSOR 127 



The following letter to his brother describes the 

 progress on the new workshop. William at this time, 

 having left Washington, was practising law in Reading. 



From Spencer F. Baird to William M. Baird. 



CARLISLE, Sept. 30, 1845 

 DEAR WILL, 



Mother requests me to write and acknowledge the receipt of 

 your letter enclosing the check, which came very opportunely. We 

 can now Sauce Doty to our heart's content for delaying so much. 

 The house is not done yet, and will not be until next week. They 

 are painting the woodwork, but there are all the shutters to put up, 

 the balcony, and the locks on the doors, 16 in number, Yet to do. 

 If I were the girls I would not come home until the beginning or 

 middle of next week, if they wish to get the coup d'oeil, in fact I 

 would advise them to that course. Mother says that if you have not 

 got the carpets, not to do so unless they are very pretty and cheap. 

 She will get them in Philadelphia in the event of your not having 

 taken them. Bishop McCoskrey urges me to write to Dr Houghton 

 who is surveying some government copper land about Lake Superior, 

 for a situation in his corps which will start out next April. He is 

 sanguine of my success. If Uncle Tommy goes to Schuylkill Co. I 

 would like to visit him for a few weeks to learn some of the practice 

 of Surveying. Won't Lake Superior be a great place. Every body 

 is preparing for Shooting Partridges to morrow. They are very 

 abundant. Other game is however very scarce. I killed a Short- 

 billed Marsh Wren last week in the Poor house meadow, and saw 

 others, but could not get them. Write soon. Yours truly 



SPENCER F. BAIRD 



Nothing seems to have come of the Lake Superior 

 proposal. October 4th his brother Samuel and his cousin 

 William Penrose went to Lancaster to stay, the former 

 to undertake teaching and the latter the study of law. 

 Spencer hard at w r ork on Spanish, Italian and German, 

 besides Trigonometry, etc. 



