70 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
at Sunberry last Sunday. If I had had a gun I could have shot it. 
It probably had been wounded some weeks before. It was sitting 
in the water line when I first saw it about 20 yards off. I threw 
stones at it & hit near it frequently, but it swam out into the middle 
of the river. At Sunberry I got a set of the Lead ores worked near 
there, pieces of which I carried home. Partridges were very plenty 
along Susquehanna. Heard them whistling the whole time. I would 
like very much to come down and spend a few days in Washington 
to see you all. I could go to Baltimore in two days. The walk to 
Baltimore would not be very hot, but that from Balt. to Washington 
would. In fact I should prefer going by Harper’s Ferry, if I had 
any way of getting a small trunk to Washington. I could go to 
Chambersburg in the evening from Chambersburg to Harper’s Ferry 
in the morning, and from there to Washington the next day by the 
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal tow-path. This would be preferable to— 
[paper torn] other unless I could ride from Baltimore to Washington 
in the train. The great objection to the Harper’s Ferry plan would 
be that I would come to Washington at night without knowing where 
to go. 
I went to Harrisburg at the cars at 4 A M this morn. & came 
back at noon. I went to see Elizabeth Sargeant who is there with 
Mrs. Espy. The whole family, Mrs Sargeant, Dick & Lizzie are 
going the middle of next month to Foxburg in Clarion Co. By 
the By if you have any time in the fall it would be delightful for us 
to walk out there. We could go in 4 or 5 days and they would be 
delighted to see us. There is any quantity of game of all sorts there. 
At Harrisburg Post Office this morning I saw a Map of Pennsylvania 
on a pretty large scale, showing all the post offices with the distances 
marked. It was made by James H. Burr, Topographer to the Post 
Office Department Published in 1838 or 739. Could you not get one 
from the Department for me? Write soon, as you are now two 
letters in Debt & Believe me : 
Your affectionate Brother 
Spencer F. Bairp 
Urged by his brother William to come at his expense, 
the proposed walk to Washington, doubtless prompted 
by economy, was soon carried out. On the 2oth of July 
