I am not at liberty to give my reasons to the public for the publication of this letter; nor even the manner of securing it. Those to whom my word has been passed relative to a strict secrecy on my part in the above connection, shall not be betrayed. Friends who know me are aware that my word is as good as my bond, and even better than my promissory note. On the Wing, February 1, 1880. Dear Sir:--I have a little leisure in which to write of our journey, and will dictate this letter to an amanuensis. [Amanuensis is a Ute word; but you will understand it in this connection. It does not mean anything wrong.] We find much snow through the mountains, which impedes our progress very materially. We crossed a canyon yesterday where there was a good deal. I should think there might be 1,500 feet in depth of it. It filled the canyon up full, and bulged up ten or fifteen feet above the sides. I composed a short poem about it. I knew that it was wrong to do so; but almost every one else has composed a poem on the beautiful snow, then why should I, although I have not taken out my naturalization papers, be denied the sweet solace of song? I said:= ````O drifted whiteness covering` ```The fair face of nature, ````Pure as the sigh of a blessed spirit` ```On the eternal shores, you` ```Glitter in the summer sun` ```Considerable. My mortal` ```Ken seems weak and` ```Helpless in the midst of` ```Your dazzling splendor, ````And I would hide my` ```Diminished head like` ```Serf unclothed in presence` ```Of his mighty King.= `````You lie engulphed` ```Within the cold embrace` ```Of rocky walls and giant` ```Cliffs. You spread out` ```Your white mantle and` ```Enwrap the whole broad` ```Universe, and a portion` ```Of York State.= `````You seem content,` ```Resting in silent whiteness` ```On the frozen breast of` ```The cold, dead earth. You` ```Think apparently that` ```You are middling white;` ```But once I was in the` ```Same condition. I was` ```Pure as the beautiful snow,` ```But I fell. It was a` ```Right smart fall, too. ````It churned me up a` ```Good deal and nearly` ```Knocked the supreme` ```Duplex from its intellectual` ```Throne. It occurred in` ```Washington, D. C. `````But thou ````Snow, lying so spotless` ```On the frozen earth, as` ```I remarked before, thou` ```Hast indeed a soft, ````Soft thing. Thou comest` ```Down like the silent` ```Movements of a specter,` ```And thy fall upon the` ```Earth is like the tread` ```Of those who walk the` ```Shores of immortality. ````You lie around all` ```Winter drawing your` ```Annuities till spring, ````And then the soft` ```Breath from the south with` ```Touch seductive bids you` ```Go, and you light out` ```With more or less alacrity.= `````Then rest, O snow, ````Where thou hast settled` ```Down, secure in conscious` ```Purity. Avoid so far as` ```Possible the capital of` ```A republic, and the` ```Blessing of yours truly`