It was lovely in you to do it, & I most highly appreciate the feeling that prompted you; but I am an interested Judge & jury, & cannot sit upon my own case. In my heart I should question my verdict, whichever way I gave it. If I approved, I should I would secretly feel that I had too good an opinion of myself; if I disapproved, I should fear I did it out of a pretended modesty. A merely reasonably good looking girl who is told she is beautiful does not like to confess consent that she is, & yet would not willingly confess that she isn’t, to the complimenter. There is no middle course: she must move a change of venue; it is a case which peculiarly requires that the court be disinterested. That eat is the way I feel. At bottom, I disapprove—of that I am sure; but at the same time if a better judge approved, I could find it in my heart to submit to the verdict.

I had just gone to Ottawa on a week’s visit when your letter came, & am only just back; this accounts for my delay in answering—this time; though I believe I am always a trifle slow in the matter of writing.

We are in the flurry of preparation, now—in the beginning of it, at least—for we leave on the 14th for Elmira for the summer. Livy is still as thin as a rail, & gathers strength very slowly. But the children are all very well, & all send a world of love to you.

Lovingly,

Saml