University of Virginia Library

Sound the loud timbrel! —
& let yourself out to your to your most
prodigious capacity — for I have fought
the good fight & lo! I have won! Re-
fused three times — warned to quit, once
— accepted at last! — & beloved! —
Great Caesar's ghost, if there were a
church in town with a steeple high
enough to make it an object, I would
would go out & jump over it! And
I persecuted her parents for 48 hours
& at last they couldn't stand the siege
any longer & so they made a conditional
surrender: — which is to say, if she
[illeg.] makes up her mind thoroughly
& eternally, & I prove that I have
done nothing criminal or particularly
shameful in the past, & establish a
good character in the future & settle
down, I may take the sun out of their

domestic firmament, the angel out of
their fireside heaven. [Thunders of
applause.] She felt the first symp-
toms last Sunday — my lecture, Mon-
day night, brought the disease to the
surface — Tuesday & Tuesday night
she avoided me & would not do more
than be simply polite to me because
her parents said NO absolutely (al-
most,) — Wednesday they capitulated &
marched out with their side-arms
— Wednesday night — she said over
& over & over again that she loved
me but was sorry she did & hoped
it would yet pass away — Thursday
I was telling her what a splendid
magnificent fellows you & your
wife were, & when my enthusiasm
got the best of me & the tears sprang
to my eyes, she just jumped up &
said she was glad & proud [illeg.] she
loved me! — & Friday night I left
(to save her sacred name from the
tongues of the gossips — & the last
thing she said was: "Write im-
mediately & just as often as you
can!" Hurra! [Hurricanes
of applause.] There's the history of it.

Oh no — there isn't any per-
sistence about me — certainly
not. But I am so happy I want
to scalp somebody.

My fervent love to you both.
Write me, now — address [illeg.] 121
William street.

I walk in the clouds again.
bow my reverent head — thy blessing!