ENVOI 



HENRY ADAMS TO H. L. HIGGINSON 



Washington, Apl. 2, 1910. 

 I wish I were there to show what respect I could for 

 Alex. If I showed all I felt, it would be worth while to 

 go far. He was the best we ever produced, and the only 

 one of our generation whom I would have liked to 

 envy. When I look back on our sixty years of life, and 

 think of our millions of contemporaries, I am pacified 

 when the figure of Alex occurs to me, and I feel al- 

 most reconciled to my own existence. We did one first- 

 rate work when we produced him, and I do not know 

 that, thus far, any other country has done better. I feel 

 as though our lives had become suddenly poor — almost 

 as though our generation were bankrupt by his loss. 

 He stood so high above any one else in my horizon that 

 I can no longer see a landmark now that he is gone. 

 To any one else except you I should have to explain all 

 this feeling, but you know how true and natural it is 

 and I can leave it so. 



