Met a fine young fellow (Bacon) & he said I hadn’t answered your letters. But I did answer ’em. One was after your s narrow escape on your homeward passage; the other was to congratulate you & Madame upon the arrival of the little Boyesen—wherein I instructed you that a few drops of peppermint & water would rob the baby of his precocious talent for smiling, since that mixture would relieve him of wind & thus remove the cause of the smile. Maybe I forgot to mail that letter, but I have dug into my memory & found that I wrote it, at any rate.

I meant to run over to Ithaca while I was in Elmira, but one thing & another (joined to native laziness) & disinclination to travel) put it off till it was at last too late.

We arrived safely ourselves, but our things are all broken. Our unpacking room looks like a furniture hospital.

We unite in warmest regards to you & Mrs. Boyesen & the intruder, & hope to see you again in the good providence of God. If you see any of the Sages we want to be remembered to them.