560 LETTERS TO DARWIN AND OTHERS. [1867, 
the preparation. But I cannot lay the corner-stone 
till college work is over, next July. Meanwhile I 
want suggestions as to form, and how to condense 
references to the utmost and crowd a page, yet leav- 
ing it clear and comely. When I have got the thing 
blocked out, and have worked up a part, then Mrs. 
G. and I hope to go over and see you, and to stay a 
good long while. Adieu, till next week. 
Ever yours, A. Gray. 
TO R. W. CHURCH. 
December 5, 1867. 
Before the year closes I mean you shall have a note 
from me, to renew on my part an intercourse which 
has been interrupted through negligence of mine. I 
find I get more and more overloaded as I grow older, 
and I dare say you find it the same. Still we must 
exchange a word now and then. 
I have to tell you of the severe loss we have had in 
the death, in October, of Mrs. Gray’s good and kind 
father, Mr. Loring. He and my wife were very much 
to each other, and in former years had been unusually 
intimate companions ; and his death at seventy-three, 
quite unexpected till within a few weeks of the event, 
is very much felt. Mrs. Gray’s own health, too, is 
but poor, though on the whole I trust it is becoming 
firmer. 
If you see your friend Mr. Fraser (whom I, un- 
fortunately, did not) you may learn from him what 
manner of man Mr. Loring was. I wish I knew him, 
to say to him how highly we value a letter he lately 
addressed to Mrs. Loring, and which I read yester- 
day, — so full of sympathy and just appreciation. 
