Various Affairs. 341 



and upon getting home again to New York he wrote 

 her the following characteristic epistle : 



NEW YORK, January /j>, 1878. 



MY DEAR NIECE : It was both jolly and queer to find 

 you " settled," for it is only the other day that I saw you 

 brought out of the bedroom fresh, ruddy, and squalling, 

 when you at once became official rag baby for the neighbour- 

 hood. It seems about six weeks ago, and now you are at 

 the head of a concern yourself, and will be a grandmother 

 long before the century is out. So it did seem funny to see 

 you ruling an establishment on the Naugatuck under an 

 assumed name. 



Yet I greatly enjoyed the visit, for, although it was a 

 sort of milestone showing how fast life is spinning away, I 

 did not allow this reflection to trouble me, but rather drew 

 encouragement from it that I am getting pretty nearly 

 through. . . . 



I was glad to see that you had not gone through the 

 cooking school in vain. Stick to the subject ; keep at it. 

 I tell you that cooking and housekeeping make up the one 

 satisfying, happifying, and ever-paying thing for a woman. 

 Study it ; practice it ; improve it ; and make some one point 

 ahead at least every three days. The range plays a better 

 music than the piano, as time will show. 



Few men realized so thoroughly and constantly as 

 Youmans to how vast an extent the physical, intellec- 

 tual, and moral elevation of mankind is going to be 

 effected by the simple, obscure, and unambitious 

 achievement of making the home comfortable and 

 .pleasant. Upon current political matters his judg- 

 ment was equally sound, and the relations between 

 cause and effect were quite clear to him. 



