
          Burlington Iowa Mar 3rd 1854


 My Dear Sir


 Your kind favor of Jan 13th
 would not have remained so long unanswered 
 had I not at the time I received
 it and ever since been walking in the valley
 of the shadow of death with a dear friend
 an almost life-long companion whose remains
 I committed yesterday to the grave.


 And now let me thank you for calling 
 up by your most acceptable letter the
 pleasant memories of the long buried
 but never forgotten past. It was one of the
 chief pleasures of my earlier and most
 cherished recollections of my later life
 that I could number you among
 my friends and truly thankful am I 
 that you have not forgotten me nor those
 delightful studies and pursuits that
 formed the connecting tie of our
 earlier and more joyful but perhaps
 not better days.

        