years; but I have a good idea of what is occupying the minds of the world's thinkers in this nineteenth century. One of the best lessons I have learned from the literature you have sent me is faith,--a very different kind of faith from the mere credulity I once knew by that name. At times I am dazed and confounded when I think of the great mysteries surrounding us, especially of the mysteries of death; but I feel that a good God is over all, and the main thing is to do right, and all will be well. I cannot express how much I owe you for the great good you have done me. You have my heartfelt thanks." In another letter he wrote:-- "To say that I am delighted with 'The Religion of Evolution' is but a poor way of expressing myself. You could not have sent me a more timely book. I would like to get all of Mr. Savage's books. You 'wish I could go to Boston,' etc. Ah! you do not know how I sometimes yearn for some such thing myself. I find my great pleasure and recreation in intellectual pursuits; and of course I have not nearly so great advantages in a small city as I would have in a large one. But for meditation and communion with the Infinite, communion with Nature and the incomprehensible God, I must have solitude. It was a favorite dream of my childhood that I would be a minister. But I have to work in another way. My father died when I was six years of age, and my mother therefore had a struggle to give us an education,--that inestimable blessing of a common-school education. I feel that the highest work for me is to support her to the best of my ability.... I value highly the sermons you send me. Most of our churches here offer one 'dry bones' instead of the living truth. Do you know of any low-priced publication which would give me a fair sketch of Theodore Parker's life and thought? I would like to know something of him. I am greatly pleased with the 'Register.' Mr. Savage's sermons are also a feast to me. The sermons of J. F. Clarke you sent me in June have a ring about them and a spirit in them that I find in few others." Miss Ellis wrote him, Dec. 29, 1883:--