Letters to a Friend 



can tell me what is true or false and unworthy 

 in my experiences. 



The ease with which you have read my mind 

 from hints taken from letters to my child friends 

 gives me confidence to write. 



Thank you for the compliment of the great 

 picture-frame. That is at least one invention 

 that I should not have discovered, but the 

 picture is but an insect, an animalcule. I have 

 stood by a majestic pine, witnessing its high 

 branches waving "in sign of worship" or in con 

 verse with the spirit of the storms of autumn, 

 till I forgot my very existence, and thought my 

 self unworthy to be made a leaf of such a tree. 



What work do you use in the study of the 

 Fungi ? and where can I get a copy ? I think of 

 your description of these " little children of the 

 vegetable kingdom" whenever I meet any of 

 them. I am busy with the mosses and liver 

 worts, but find difficulty in procuring a suitable 

 lens. Here is a specimen of Climacium Amer- 

 icanum, a common moss here but seldom in fruit. 



I was sorry to hear of your loss at the Uni- 

 [71 



