Lucy, never marry a man with whom you do not agree on all points! I feel it more and more, the older I grow, that love grows stronger only towards those with whom we sympathize; and that we become more and more a burden to each other if we do not agree well. And although we may avoid quarreling yet coldness is sometimes harder to bear than an absolute quarrel. I feel all this with Miss ----, and yet she is far more agreeable to me than a good many other of my acquaintances. I really feel an attachment for her, perhaps for the very reason that I feel we will not be obliged to be always together. Miss ---- charged me with a great deal of love for you, and you may help yourself to as much as you want.... On the 20th, I am giving a lecture for our Hospital, at Chickering Hall, on the subject of “Hospitals.” I shall let you know how it comes off.... Write soon and put yourself into the letter, and I will send you back by the next mail. * * * * * _Roxbury, January 25, 1863._ It is Sunday morning, and I am tired and worn out. I felt miserable all last week, so miserable that I had to give up my work and my lessons for the last three days and rest. Yesterday afternoon we all went to the minstrels, and I am the only one who got used up by it. I have had a great deal of practice this winter, more than is good for me, yet I did not make so much money. People are all poor, everything being now so dear. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with my affairs if I can only keep strong under the strain. My sister Anna is again quite sick, and Rosalie will therefore come to live with me in April. Minna had everything arranged to go to Paris in April or May, but now that gold gets higher every day, she thinks she must give it up for another year. Would it not be nice if she could arrive in Paris when you do? I wish gold would come down again so that could come about. Now, a few words as to the talk in England about a medical college for women. Elizabeth Blackwell wrote to me about this as follows: “She may get a great deal of valuable knowledge there, but I can judge far better than she can of the value of their speeches. What they mean by a ‘college’ is a school for a better class of midwives. To the broad, true ground of admitting women to an equality in the profession, they are stubbornly opposed; and they hold the power of exclusion entirely in their own hands. The law in England makes medicine and surgery a close corporation, very different from the freedom here.” Miss Garrett seems to verify all this, and more. I know, myself, that the same talk and the same help would be extended to you should you go to Berlin. But all that means a different thing from native women taking the same work, as a general thing. There are _some_ liberal men, to be sure, but they are so much in the minority that their voices cannot even be heard.