"If, on contemplation, we look the _august question_ squarely in the face, we can most certainly reach the conclusion that this Ideal is the highest possible one, and centres within itself _all things else_ requisite to an intelligent apprehension of what we are striving to reach. To illustrate--if we have not already covered the basic ground of the thought--all the most potent and irresistible forces of Nature are strictly impalpable; and yet we know somewhat of their lurkings; and such star-eyed minds as that of a Morse can reverently and gently lead them in the direction of human pathways. "This conviction may be considered as the final result of the eager inquiry of honest and intelligent human minds. I think it the reflex of the conviction of England's Newton, and I accept and retain it as a finality of the question. It ennobles instead of dwarfing one's conception of a Ruler of all things, and gives us a stable as well as a rational and intellectual standpoint of observation, of faith, and of love. Higher than the God of earlier worship, because entirely removed from the sensuous perceptions; not fashioned after the crude and dimly visioned ideals of elder time, it is sufficient for the highest yearnings of all Humanity, and must necessarily ennoble the faith of all with whom it shall live as the great exponent of Power, Truth, and Love. "I remain, sincerely, as ever, "Your friend, "J. E. ROBINSON."[21] [21] "The writer is quite aware that if this letter, or its substance, should be used as a part of the text of your book, it may be perused by some who will pronounce its final and legitimate conclusions as but a reflex or embodiment of ancient Pantheism. I think, however, that the more critical of its observers--if such it may and I hope will have--will discover a wide divergence from that form of belief; which is really, if rightly apprehended, totally at variance with the central idea which I intend reverently to express. "J. E. R." The following letter will explain itself. Professor J. Jay Watson needs no description. He was an intimate friend of Olé Bull, who bequeathed to him his favorite violin, on which instrument he is himself a consummate performer, while his little son, Emmons Watson, bids fair some day to rival Olé Bull himself. His direction of the music at the Centennial of 1876, and his popular "dime concerts" in New York, attended by some hundreds of thousands, have made Professor Watson not less widely known than he is everywhere highly respected, for his philanthropy as well as musical genius and powers. A. L. U. "MRS. A. LEAH UNDERHILL: "HIGHLY ESTEEMED FRIEND--It is with unfeigned pleasure that I comply with your request to furnish you with an account of my strange experience while visiting San Francisco, Cal., in company with Olé Bull, the violinist, in 1870.