Years of Blindness. 39 



considering the brief duration of our intimacy, the impres- 

 sions it made upon me have remained singularly indelible. 

 Following the usual practice of schoolmates who cherish 

 some mutual regard, we subsequently kept up a brief cor- 

 respondence. I regret to say that among the relics of that 

 far-off epistolary period I can only find two of your broth- 

 er's letters. 



That of September, 1839, gives a sad picture of his pro- 

 found despondency, arising from ill health, disappointed 

 hopes, and blindness. To one of his intensely active mind, 

 longing for the contest upon the great arena of real life, 

 what a marvel had it been otherwise ! Yet did he not utterly 

 despair, but all the days of his appointed time would he 

 wait. 



In the letter of June 21, 1840, he draws a vivid con- 

 trast between his fortune and that which had fallen to my 

 own lot, and in it we discover the glorious vision a col- 

 legiate career spread out before him while he was left 

 " standing upon the strand of earthly enjoyment, in sight 

 of an eternity of tripled, yea, quadrupled misery." Mani- 

 festly, depression of spirits and mental suffering could no 

 further go, and it is a most pleasant reflection for me now, 

 as it was a profound satisfaction at the time, that amid all 

 this gloom any words of mine could enable him to say that 

 the time spent in their perusal had been among the happi- 

 est moments of his life. 



I must here close this imperfect sketch of my recollec- 

 tions of your brother. If anything here recorded can aid 

 you in a faithful presentation of his strangely diversified 

 life, making it an example and encouragement to any whom 

 misfortune or disappointment may be likely to overcome, I 

 shall feel amply rewarded ; and it is with grateful satisfac- 

 tion I can now turn from the sad impression his letters 

 would otherwise leave, to the many subsequent years of 

 his active and eventful life in a field so congenial and so 

 near to the ideal of his young ambition. 



