282 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 



From Dr. Elisha Kent Kane 9 to Spencer F. Baird. 



(November, 1852.) 

 MY DEAR PROFESSOR: 



I thank you much for your aid in securing Mr. Thomas, as also 

 for your volunteered initiation into the dredge and other marine 

 mysteries. 



Would you kindly deliver the enclosed to Mr. T. and tell him if a 

 pecuniary advance would be of any service to him, I will do my best to 

 accommodate him. The fact is that I wish in every way to show my 

 care for the happiness and comfort of our little party. Pent up in a 

 small compass and subjected, as we will be, to a rigid system of dis- 

 cipline as a means of accomplishing much hard work, I want to bring 

 about a spirit of cheerfulness and contentment in our little mess. 



They say, among my naval friends, that subordination can only 

 be preserved by a uniform distance and reserve. This idea is repug- 

 nant to the kindly feelings of one's nature "non semper arcum" 

 &c., &c. and I intend to try hard to be exacting on duty and bearable 

 when off of it. 



Would you say to Mr. Thomas that unless he is prepared to make 

 "the best of things" and laugh at little annoyances, he had better not 

 go with me. "Bear and forbear" must be the rule of our little mess, 

 and each one must be prepared for work of a mixed and incongruous 

 description. 



With this parting growl I really think that Mr. T. will find the 



arctics a very comfortable region. ,, , . , . . 



Your friend in haste, 



E. K. KANE. 



From S. F. Baird to Capt. Geo. B. McClellan, Corpus Christi, Texas. 



WASHINGTON, Nov. 6th, 1852. 

 MY DEAR CAPTAIN: 



It was with the greatest pleasure that I received your letter of 

 August 12, 1852, forwarded by Capt. Marcy a week ago from New 

 York. Accompanying it was a note from him stating that he had 



9 Elisha Kent Kane, M.D., U.S.N., the distinguished arctic explorer, 

 born in Philadelphia Feb. 20, 1820, died at Havana, Feb. 16, 1857. 



