A friend from Washington writes me (Feb. 6th), on the same topic;
"Whether matrimony has stripped you of your erratic notions and habits,
'and brought you within narrower limits,' or whether the geography of
the earth is no longer of interest to you, I cannot, of course, pretend
to say. But considering you, as I do, a devotee to science, I had
thought it possible that you might feel a desire to engage in her cause
to the South, by occupying some eminent station in the expedition."
The reasons which I have mentioned, at the opening of the year, have
inclined me to seek repose from further travel. Besides which, my
position as a married man, and the peculiar relations I have thereby
assumed, impress me, very deeply, with the opinion that my sphere of
duty, whatever may be my ambition, lies nearer at home than the proposed
and very attractive field of discovery. I therefore wrote declining
the offer.
_April 7th_, A DOMESTIC CURTAIN LIFTED.--My sister Helen Margaret
writes, from New York: "This afternoon, as I was sitting by the fire,
having become the prey of ill health, a thought struck my mind to write
a few lines to you, not, however, to give you much news, but merely to
acquaint you that we are still in the land of the living, and that,
though our friends are far removed, we still live among them in
imagination.
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