"... If I understand the theory and purpose of your church, I shall be glad to render the cause any service in my power; and if I can be of any service as an auxiliary to your Missionary Society, I have only to be instructed in the ways thereof." As such auxiliary he acted, distributing tracts, papers, etc., with a zeal that might well shame some life-long Unitarians. In later letters he wrote:-- "Outside of all churches there is quite a number of men, mostly young, intelligent men, who have cultivated an intense hatred of certain doctrines and religious observances, and who have gradually come to denounce and seek the overthrow of our whole religious system. These are banded together as an auxiliary to the 'Liberal League' of America. In addition to these are a number of young men, sons of Orthodox parents, who dissent from the religious views and peculiar creeds which have satisfied their elders, and yet have no definite faith of their own. I think that with these two classes, as well as with those who have so far been indifferent to the claim of religion, we have an excellent prospect of success in introducing our views and extending the influence of Liberal Christianity. I am very friendly to the Orthodox Church, recognizing the noble purpose that animates them all, and the invaluable services that they have rendered to mankind; and I have less desire to draw upon their strength than I have to see the Unitarian Church built up from material that has formerly been identified with _no_ church organization. I was a Unitarian in theory long before I knew anything of the Unitarian Church.... As a rule, the young men of my acquaintance who are, either in theory or practice, liberal Christians, are of the most intelligent order, ambitious, progressive young men; and of _them_ what may we not hope?" He went into business in Leadville, Colorado, and from there wrote Miss Ellis (in 1881):--