20 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



many names will be comparatively slight. To aid you some- 

 what I have written in the Book examples of plants you know, 

 to which you can refer M^hen you are unacquainted with the 

 plant the book mentions. After a little practice you will get 

 along well enough. You must not be in too great a hurry to 

 get along, but get everything thoroughly as you go along. It 

 may be hard and seem tough, but we must work to grow 

 strong. And if you labor through this and get it perfectly, 

 you can answer questions that perhaps no other person in 

 Lewis Co. may be able to do. 



You will have so improved as to be able to take up other 

 studies, as Chemistry, Astronomy, etc. etc., and learn them 

 with tolerable ease and will find your perseverance and 

 patience drawn out to a wonderful extent, so that you will 

 be less vexed with even the common cares of life. When you 

 have finished this Book it will [he] my care to provide you 

 with [a] larger. 



In June, he writes to quiet the anxiety of the family, 

 as voiced by his elder sister, Sarah, over the prevalence 

 of cholera in New York. Evidently he has been more 

 concerned with his own plans for the future than with 

 rumors of epidemics : 



Dear Father, — I recv'd Sarah's letter Sat. night and now 

 return an answer concerning Cholera, etc. There have been 

 no well characterized cases in Flushing. We have no alarm 

 upon the subject. The school goes on as usual, only about 60 

 students. I like things in general, and enjoy myself much 

 better than I did last winter. I teach an excellent class in 

 Chemistry, and shall soon commence giving instruction in 

 practical Chemistry, or Blowpipe Manipulation, to three smart 

 young men. I wrote some time since to Prof. Horsford of 

 Cambridge University for information respecting the expenses 

 of studying with him. They are as follows per annum. 



