unostentatious, of human
beings. It is hoped his labors were not without some witness to the
truths which he so faithfully taught. But, as soon as the straits were
relieved from the icy fetters of winter, he went away, never, perhaps,
to see us more. He now writes to apprise me of the spread of a rumor
respecting my personal interest in the theme of his labors, which had,
without permission from his lips, reached the ears of some of my friends
at Detroit. Blessed sensitiveness to rumor, how few possess it!

Having said this much, I may add that, in the course of the winter, my
mind was arrested by his mode of exhibiting truth. The doctrine of the
Trinity, which had seemed to me the mere jingle of a triad, as deduced
from him, appeared to be a unity, which derived all its coherence and
vitality from a belief in the Second Person. The word "Lord" became
clothed with a majesty and power which rendered it inapplicable, in my
views, to any human person. The assiduity that I had devoted, night and
day, to my manuscripts, in the search after scientific truths, and the
knowledge arising from study, did not appear to me to be wrong in
itself, but was thought to be pursued with an intensity that withdrew my
mind from, or, rather, had never allowed it properly to contemplate and
appreciate the character of God.

_23d_. A literary friend writes: "I am rejoiced to learn that you have
made such progress in your new work. I hope and trust that the celerity
with which you have written has not withdrawn your attention from those
subjects connected with literary success, which are more important than
even time itself."

"My prospects of seeing you at the Sault, this season," writes the same
hand, "grows weaker and weaker every day. I cannot ascertain in what
situation Col. Benton's bill is, for the purchase of the copper country
upon Lake Superior, nor the prospects of its eventual passage. Our last
Washington dates are of the 8th instant, and at that time there was a
vast mass of business pending before both Houses, and the period of
adjournment was uncertain. Mr. Lowrie and Governor Edwards have
furnished abundant matter for congressional excitement. It really
appears to me that, as soon as two or three hundred men are associated
together to talk at, and about one another, and everything else, their
passions and feelings usurp the place of their reason. Like children,
they are excited by every question having a local or personal asp