ratitude, taught my children
French. His last literary effort was the translation of the first two
volumes of the Comte de Paris's "History of the Civil War in America."
His devotion to my husband was pathetic, and I have frequently heard the
Count say during the last years of his life that he never met him
without some good fortune immediately following.

After Mr. Gouverneur's death I received the following letter from
Tasistro, which is so beautiful in diction that I take pleasure in
inserting it:

WASHINGTON, April 26, 1880.

My dear Mrs. Gouverneur,

Had I obeyed implicitly the impulses of my heart, or been
less deeply affected by the great loss which will ever
render the 5th of April a day of sad & bitter memories to
me, I should perhaps have been more expeditious in rendering
to you the poor tribute of my condolence for the terrible
bereavement which it has pleased the Supreme Ruler of all
things to afflict you with.

My own particular grief in thus losing the best & most
valued friend I ever had on earth, receives additional
poignancy from the fact that, although duly impressed with
an abiding sense of the imperishable obligation, conferred
upon me by my lamented friend, I have been debarred, by my
own physical infirmities, from proffering those services
which it would have afforded me so much consolation to
perform.

I should be loath, however, to start on my own journey for
that shadowy land whose dim outlines are becoming daily more
& more visible to my mental eye, without leaving some kind
of record attesting to the depth of my appreciation of all
the noble attributes which clustered around your husband's
character--of my intense & lasting gratitude for his
generous exertions in my behalf, & my profound sympathy for
you personally in this hour of sorrow & affliction.

Hoping that you may find strength adequate to the emergency,
I remain, with great respect,

Your devoted servant,

L. F. TASISTRO.

A valued friend of my father's was Dr. John W. Francis, the "Doctor
Sangrado" of this period, who, with other practitioners of the day,
believed in curing all maladies by copious bleeding and a dose of
calomel. He was the fashionable physician of that time and especially
prided himself upon his physical resemblance to Benjamin Franklin. He
ha