of constraint and reticence as
I spoke of his probable intention to make use of his talent after leaving
prison. He told me that he was a graduate of Elmira, and also of the
United States navy. I left him with the feeling that our interview had not
been very much of a success. I was therefore the more surprised to receive
the following letter a few days afterward.

135 State St., Auburn, N. Y.,
Oct. 17, 1913.

Hon. Thos. M. Osborne, Auburn, N. Y.

Dear Sir: Ever since Tuesday I have been trying to muster up
sufficient courage to write you. After you left and I had finally
regained control of myself it occurred to me that I had forgotten to
ask you inside; but coming as you did I was completely taken by
surprise and forgot everything, for which I hope you will pardon me.

Your unexpected visit, brief as it was, furnished me much food for
thought. I can not truthfully say that I was not flattered by your
kind approbation--but it has not turned my head; to the contrary, it
has caused me to think a bit harder than I ever have before. As you
undoubtedly know by your brief experience here, the subject which
occupies a man's mind mostly is reflection; and while a large amount
of my time has been tempered with reflection, up until now it had
never led me into this particular channel.

I have made various plans as to the course I shall pursue in
regaining all that I have lost, when I shall have been released. But
until now I had never considered music as the medium to accomplishing
this end. Perhaps I am overestimating my ability--I probably am--but
at least I mean to attempt it. When I was sentenced to Elmira I
cursed the day that I ever learned to play; after I had been there a
while I began to miss my violin even more than the cigarettes of
which I was likewise deprived. As the time progressed, and I was not
getting any nearer home, through non-compliance with the rules, I
finally banished music from my mind and everything connected with it;
and from then on I seemed to get on better.

The period I was in the navy was too strenuous to admit of anything
but adapting myself to the life; with the exception of dodging
ex-convicts with which the navy is amply supplied.

After I found myself beached and began life again, I had completely
forgotten the fact that I