Letters to a Friend 



I have not received a letter from any source 

 since leaving Florida, and of course I am very 

 lonesome and hunger terribly for the commun 

 ion of friends. I will remain here eight or nine 

 months and hope to hear from all my friends. 



Fate and flowers have carried me to Califor 

 nia, and I have reveled and luxuriated amid 

 its plants and mountains nearly four months. 

 I am well again, I came to life in the cool winds 

 and crystal waters of the mountains, and, were 

 it not for a thought now and then of loneliness 

 and isolation, the pleasure of my existence 

 would be complete. 



I have forgotten whether I wrote you from 

 Cuba or not. I spent four happy weeks there 

 in January and February. 



I saw only a very little of the grandeur of 

 Panama, for my health was still in wreck, and 

 I did not venture to wait the arrival of another 

 steamer. I had but half a day to collect speci 

 mens. The Isthmus train rushed on with camel 

 speed through the gorgeous Eden of vines and 

 palms, and I could only gaze from the car plat- 

 [37 1 



