ks after his return from the
South, he writes to his wife from Pittsfield, Massachusetts:--

"We are thus far on our tour safe and sound. Mr. Silliman's health is
very perceptibly better already. Last night we lodged at Litchfield; Mr.
Silliman had an excellent night and is in fine spirits.

"At Litchfield I called on Judge Reeves and sat a little while.... I
called at Mr. Beecher's with Mr. Silliman and Judge Gould; no one at
home. Called with Mr. Silliman at Dr. Shelden's, and stayed a few
moments; sat a few moments also at Judge Gould's.

"I was much pleased with the exterior appearance of Litchfield; saw at a
distance Edwards's pickerel pond.

"We left at five this morning, breakfasted at Norfolk, dined at
Stockbridge. We there left the stage and have hired a wagon to go on to
Middlebury, Vermont, at our leisure. We lodge here to-night and shall
probably reach Bennington, Vermont, to-morrow night.

"I have made one slight pencil sketch of the Hoosac Mountain. At
Stockbridge we visited the marble quarries, and to-morrow at Lanesborough
shall visit the quarries of fine white marble there.

"I am much delighted with my excursion thus far. To travel with such a
companion as Mr. Silliman I consider as highly advantageous as well as
gratifying."

This is all the record I have of this particular trip. The Mr. Beecher
referred to was the father of Henry Ward Beecher.

Later in the summer he accompanied his wife and little daughter to
Concord, New Hampshire, and left them there with her father and mother.
Writing to her from Boston on his way back to New Haven, he says in
characteristically masculine fashion:--

"I have talked with Aunt Bartlett about getting you a bonnet. She says
that it is no time to get a fashionable winter bonnet in Boston now, and
that it would be much better if you could get it in New York, as the
Bostonians get their fashions from New York and, of course, much later
than we should in New Haven. She thinks that white is better than blue,
etc., etc., etc., which she can explain to you much better than I can.
She is willing, however, to get you any you wish if you still request it.
She thinks, if you cannot wait for the new fashion, that your black
bonnet put into proper shape with black plumes would be as _tasty_ and
fashionable as any you could procure. I think so, too. You had better
write Aunt particularly about it."

While Morse had conscientiously tried to put the best of himself into t