obliged to you for relieving me." Truth is, I have never regarded the
employment of literary time as thrown away. The discipline of the mind,
induced by composition, is something, and it is surprising what may be
done by a person who carefully "redeems" all his time. It does not, in
the least, incapacitate him for business. It rather quickens his
intellect for it.

_Feb. 1st_. My former agreeable guest at Mackinack (Rev. Geo. H.
Hastings) writes me from Walnut Hills, Ohio: "There is a missionary
spirit in our institution (Lane Seminary) that responds to the wants of
the world. The faculty have pressed upon the minds of us all the duty of
examining early the question, 'Ought I to be a missionary?'"

_16th_. My brother James writes from St. Mary's, foot of Lake Superior:
"The month has been remarkably cold, the thermometer having ranged from
13 deg..23 to 38 deg. below zero. Snow we have had in great abundance."

_17th_. Hon. Lewis F. Linn, U.S. Senator, writes respecting the
scientific character and resources of Missouri, in view of a project,
matured by him, for establishing a western armory: "Your intimate
knowledge of the Ozark Mountains, its streams descending north and
south, and those passing through to the east, with its unequaled mineral
resources, would be, to me, of infinite service, to accomplish the
purpose I have in view, should you be so kind as to communicate them, in
reference to this particular measure, and by so doing you would confer a
lasting obligation."

The resources of Missouri in iron, lead, and coal, to which I first
called attention in 1819, are of such a noble character as surely to
require no bolstering from the effects of particular measures.

_March 4th_. Mr. J.O. Lewis, of Philadelphia, furnishes me seven numbers
of his _Indian Portfolio_. Few artists have had his means of observation
of the aboriginal man, in the great panorama of the west, where he has
carried his easel. The results are given, in this work, with
biographical notices of the common events in the lives of the chiefs.
Altogether, it is to be regarded as a valuable contribution to this
species of knowledge. He has painted the Indian lineaments on the spot,
and is entitled to patronage--not as supplying all that is desirable, or
practicable, perhaps, but as a first and original effort. We should
cherish all such efforts.

_9th_. A shrewd and discriminating judge of literary things in New York,
writes: "Have you seen the