524 LETTERS TO DARWIN AND OTHERS. [1864, 
among their well-to-do acquaintances in Boston, not 
beginning till late in January, under the idea that the 
fair for the Sanitary Commission had perhaps ex- 
hausted their friends’ purses. Since then, far greater 
and more pressing demands have been made upon 
the benevolent and the public-spirited, for a variety 
of good objects; and our affair has gone slowly in 
consequence. 
I have not heard for a week respecting it, but a 
week ago the sum subscribed was a little less than 
seven thousand dollars, the greater part in sums of 
$500 each. The $10,000 is obviously secure, for sub- 
scribers of $100 each, yet to be appealed to, may be 
relied on for a good part of the lacking sum. But 
it begins to be clearly seen that $12,000 are needed 
for the capital of the fund, and this, at the present 
rate, it will take some time to secure. 
Your own offer of a small subscription, I can truly 
say, not only gratified me in the highest degree, as an 
expression of an interest in our affair which I had no 
reason to expect, but has already been of use, — has 
really been as good for us as any contribution you 
ought to make. For I took the liberty to read that 
portion of your letter to three or four friends, and 
their interest in the matter was sensibly quickened 
and exalted by this evidence of the lively interest in 
the matter taken by a country parson, far away in 
England! So pray consider that you have already 
helped us on, and we are truly grateful to you for 
your generous proffer. There is, indeed, a strong 
temptation to accept your kind offer in the fact that, 
in the present state of exchanges, owing to our paper 
currency not on a specie basis (one of the sad conse- 
quences of our civil war), every pound sterling in 
