Ah, but I don’t work for nothing, either. I only do friendly offices for nothing; so I have done what I could to assist Hamersley in his enterprise, by a note of introduction & a hearty good word in favor of his project. But there I stop. Don’t stand me up & lecture me violently about what has got to be done, or what hasn’t got to be done. Write to Hamersley, not me—the affair is his, not mine. In undertaking it, you give to it time & energy which would otherwise be used to my advantage in Kaolatype & brass; & the success of these are of higher importance to me than Hamersley’s matter is. So, you see, Hamersley is the favored party. I per thought perhaps you might make something out of the thing, & yet use more of Mr. Whitford’s time than your own. I think so still. I thought there was a fine chance for a capitalist to tackle a dead sure thing. And I think so still. But lord, I ain’t going to help—too much business on hand already. I don’t need to do anything to protect the $5000 invested in that machine; it is safe, there, & is very much the best investment I have ever had. I want an opportunity to add to it—that is how I feel about it. And this is why I say that if Hamersley’s project should be accomplished, I want to know it by telegraph, so that I can go out & try to buy some more stock.

But the thing I am a hundred times more deeply interested in, is to know how Adams’s experiment which he is about to try, turns out. I feel a personal interest in that—& personal interests are stronger than purely financial ones. Give me the information as soon as you get it.

If you should come up here, I shall want to talk a little about tackling this Publishing Co, at law; claiming damages, in that they have paid 25 per cent too much for the manufacture of The Tramp Abroad, from the beginning—a loss to me of $5,000 & upwards. ⟦My bottom object would be, to frighten them into giving up all my copyrights to me, on condition that I withdraw the lawsuit—for they’ve got no money & can’t raise any.⟧ Their last quarter’s business was even wretcheder than the previous one; & it was next to nothing at all, you remember. I wish to talk with you; , after y but not until after you shall have shown this paragraph to Mr. Whitford; for unless his firm will undertake this project of scaring these publishers, I shall drop the idea.

I enclose $525.