I was prodigiously delighted with what you said about the book—so, on the whole I’ve concluded to publish intrepidly, instead of concealing the authorship. I shall leave out that bull story.

I wish you had gone to New York. The company was small, & we had a first-rate time. Smith’s an enjoyable fellow. I liked Barrett, too. And the oysters were as good as the rest of the company. It was worth going there to learn how to cook them.

Next day I attended to business—which was, to introduce Twichell to Gen. Grant & procure a private talk in the interest of the Chinese Educational Mission here in the U. S. Well, it was very funny. Joe had been sitting up nights building facts & arguments together into a mighty & unassalilable array, & had studied them out & got them by heart—all with the trembling half-hearted hope of getting Grant to add his signature to a sort of petition to the Viceroy of China; but Grant took in the whole situation in a jiffy, & before Joe had more than fairly got started, the old man said: “I’ll write the Viceroy a letter—a separate letter—& bring strong reasons to bear upon him; I know him well., & what I say will have weight with him; yes, & with the advers I will attend to it right away. No, no thanks—I shall be glad to do it—it will be a labor of love.” Now

So all Joe’s laborious hours were for naught! It was as if he had come to borrow a dollar, & been offered a thousand before he could unfold his case. When we came away, he said that if he could have ventured upon the familiarity, he would have appealed to the General’s generosity & said, “But General, consider! I have been a week getting up this case & perfecting it, & I know it is admirable—& now this most pleasant, but at the same time most destructive haste of yours, has made it useless & thrown it on my hands a valueless property. If you would only retract your approval, & sit down & give me a chance, it would be a grateful favor to me. I know I could convince you all over again, sure.”

But it’s getting dark. Merry Christmas to all of you.