Letters to a Friend 



loving naturalist of yours. It is indeed a pleas 

 ant one, but my faith concerning its complete 

 fulfillment is weak. I do not know who your 

 other doctor is, but I am sure that when in the 

 Yosemite Valley and following the Pacific coast 

 I would obtain a great deal of geology from 

 Dr. Carr, and from yourself and that I should 

 win the secret of many a weed's plain heart. 



I am overestimated by your friend. He 

 places me in company far too honorable, but 

 if we meet in the fields of the sunny South I 

 shall certainly speak to him. 



Tell him, Mrs. Carr, in your next how thank 

 ful I am for his sympathy. He is one who can 

 sympathize in full. I feel sorry for his like mis 

 fortune and am indebted to him through you 

 for so many good and noble thoughts. 



A little messenger met me with your letter of 

 April 8th when I was on my way to the woods 

 for the first time. I read it upon a moss-clad 

 fallen tree. You only of my friends congratu 

 lated me on my happiness in having avoided 

 the misery and mud of March, but for the seri- 



[22 ] 



