Livy darling, rode all day in a smoking car, yesterday, stopping every 30 yards, arrived here in a rain storm about 2 hours after dark, jumped into evening dress in a desperate hurry & came before a full Opera House of the handsomest people you ever saw, & made them shout, & tore them all to pieces till half past 10, & not an individual deserted till the thing was over. I have been 3 months learning my trade, but I have learned it at last, & now I would rather stand before such an audience as that than play billiards. After the show (& a hot supper,[)] Pond & I did play billiards until 2 a.m., & then I scoured myself in the bath, & read & smoked till 3, then slept till half past 9, had my breakfast in bed, & now have just finished that meal & am feeling as fine as a bird. My health is so superb, now, that I require an immense strain of exertion (and fatigue) to keep me refreshed & comfortable. Not for many many years have I been in such splendid condition physically. Sometimes I have to wonder if I am really the same person who used to feel weary after running up stairs to the billiard room.

Cover the CHILDⒶemendation! Do you know, that infernal Night Ride of Mary’s has grown from 6 Minutes (in New Haven) to fifteen! And it is in every program. This pious ass allows an “entirely new program” to be announced from the stage & in the papers, & then comes out without a wince or an apology & jerks that same old Night Ride on the audience again. He did it 5 times in Chicago; but even that was not as bad as doing it 3 times in a little place like Indianapolis. He keeps his program strung out to one hour, in spite of all I can do. I am thinking of cutting another of his pieces out of the program.

I love you darling—goodbye. Be sure to give my love to Genl Franklin when you see him.