“All my folks are well, and send to you and Mrs. Byers and the baby all sorts of messages of love and respect. Yours truly, W. T. SHERMAN.” * * * * * “WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 21, 1873. “DEAR BYERS: I was very glad to receive your letter of Dec. 29, from Zurich, and I see why you were unusually anxious to reach Zurich, with a clerk deranged, and short in his accounts. I am glad, of course, his deficiency has been so promptly covered by his father, as I suppose you are personally liable for his act. “We have several letters from Minnie, telling us of her voyage and safe arrival in Paris. “The weather all December was so bad here that we feared you had a hard time, but, on the whole, ten days was a good trip at that season, and you were especially fortunate in having so smooth a passage of the straits at Dover. Minnie is beginning to figure on her trip to Italy, and is already in communication with General and Mrs. Graham at Florence. I suppose she will go there in February, and I hope a month or so there will satisfy her, and then she will turn toward Switzerland. I think she has secured the services of a most excellent French maid, who will enable her to travel with great ease and comfort. At this distance I cannot well advise her, and think it best to let her shape her own course. “All things in Washington remain as you left them. A little more visiting and more dinners, and this will continue till after the inauguration of the 4th of March, when we will settle down to our chronic state again. “I propose to remain quietly at home till the North Pacific Road has progressed far enough to justify me in crossing the continent by that line. “Give my best love to your wife, and believe me always, your friend, W. T. SHERMAN.” * * * * * “WASHINGTON, D. C., March 7, 1873. “DEAR BYERS: I have your letter of Feb. 11, and can see you and your little family settled down in your quaint home by Zurich’s fair waters. “We have letters from Minnie at Florence, and she is now with our old friends, General and Mrs. Graham, and we feel absolute confidence. She says they go to Rome about the 1st of March, and she proposes to spend March and April there and at Naples, and their project is to go to Vienna via Venice and Trieste. It certainly will be a happy incident if you can go along and take her to Zurich. I am afraid she will find less time to settle down to her French studies and music at Zurich than she first proposed. But let time settle that. She is now on the right track, and will have her whole summer to put in in the Swiss cantons. There is no good reason why she should come home till October.