17 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



yours are. It is pleasant to find myself less and less alone 

 in my estimate of the case and in my efforts. 

 Yours very truly and sincerely, 



E. L. YOUMANS. 



" It seems to be my kind of work." Bless his dear, 

 unselfish, modest heart, how much of Edward You- 

 mans is summed up in that unconscious remark! 

 Never was anybody's kind of work more nobly 

 done. 



The next letter from Mr. Spencer answers the let- 

 ter of November 23d : 



29 BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, W. C., December 77, 1863. 



MY DEAR YOUMANS: I suppose you have before this 

 received a letter which I wrote in answer to your last, and 

 which I directed to the care of the Appletons. 



The description you give me of the reception which 

 your philanthropic proposals met with during your tour 

 are highly encouraging to me. Evidently the American 

 mind is more plastic than the average English mind, which 

 is so much more restrained by institutions and traditions. 

 The progress that I make here, though tolerably sure, is 

 very slow. But the aspect of matters with you compen- 

 sates. The list of subscribers here, instead of increasing, 

 has greatly decreased since the completion of the first vol- 

 ume; but the sale of the first volume itself makes some 

 compensation for this. And, taking into account the pros- 

 pects your generous efforts have opened to me, I feel tol- 

 erably safe in pursuing the course I have marked out for 

 myself. . . . 



I must really protest against the amount of sacrifice so 

 generously proposed to be made by my American friends. 

 The obligations under which you have placed me, and to 

 which you have lately been adding so greatly, it has been 

 beyond my power to avoid, had I wished to avoid them ; 



