rength, no braving of martyrdom,--not half so fine and grand, to a
worldly and superficial view, as many a martyr's death! But oh, what
a blending in him of everything that makes perfection,--of pain and
patience, of trial and trust! But I am writing too long a letter for you
to read. . . . K. just came into my study, and says, "Do give my love."
I answer, "I give all our love always." So I do now; and with the
kindest regards to all around you, I am, as ever,

Most affectionately your friend,

ORVILLE DEWEY.

To William Cullen Bryant, Esq.

SHEFFIELD, Jan. 7, 1865.

THANKS for a beautiful record of a beautiful festival [At the "Century,"
New York, Nov. 5, 1864, in honor of Mr. Bryant's seventieth birthday.]
to a beautiful--but enough of this. You must have [278] had a surfeit.
'T was all right and due, but it must have been a hard thing to
bear,--to be so praised to your very face. . . . Your reply was
admirable,--simple, modest, quiet, graceful,--in short, I don't see how
it could be better. For the rest, I think our cousin Waldo chiselled out
the nicest bit of praise that was done on the occasion.

To Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D.

SHEFFIELD, Feb. 24, 1865.

MY DEAR FRIEND,--I was intending to write to you ten days ago, and
should have done so before now, but my mind has been engrossed with
a great anxiety and sorrow; my grandson and namesake was taken with
a fever, which went to the brain, and he died last Monday evening. I
cannot tell you--you could hardly believe what an affliction it has been
to me. He was five years old, a lovely boy, and, I think, of singular
promise,--of a fine organization, more than beautiful, and with a mind
inquiring into the causes and reasons of things, such as I have rarely
seen. . . . We meant to educate this boy; I hoped that he would bear up
my name. God's will be done!

It was of the coming Convention that I was going to write to you; but
now, just now, I have no heart for it. But I feel great interest in the
movement. Would that it were possible to organize the Unitarian Church
of America,--to take this great cause out of the hands of speculative
dispute, and to put it on the basis of a working institution. To find
a ground of union out of which may spring boundless freedom of
thought,--is it impossible? I should like to see a church which could
embrace and embody all sects.

[279]To his Daughter Mary.

SHEFFIELD, April 11, 1865.

. . . BUT I feel as if it were profan