associated with every thing in and about it. We could not live there. We rented our house to those who could not feel its loneliness as we did. Mr. McKinney had previously sold out his business in Lansingburg. He came to Louisville. where I joined him after visiting friends in Vermont and Canada. We shall probably remain here for some time to come. We are boarding in a nice, pleasant, private family. How I wish you could come and make us a visit. Please, Liveria, write to me soon. May the God of all consolation be with and bless you and comfort your stricken hearts. Mr. McKinney joins me in sending love to you both. Yours very affectionately, LUCIA B. MCKINNEY.

To Mr. and Mrs. A. B. F. Hildreth.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN, Dec. 10, 1857.

Dear Friend: I received your letter of the 30th ult. this morning, and am pained to learn of your dreadful bereavement. I say dreadful, for I scarcely know of anything more to be dreaded than to be left childless! May the good Lord in whom you trust, abundantly console you and your dear wife in this dark hour. The manner and style of your letter, dealing as it does, with present hopes and pleasant memories, remind me of a couplet from the poet Montgomery, which seems to me appropriate, and reads thus:

"Present pleasures will not last;
Remembered joys are never past."

Yes, my dear friend, our hold on earthly treasures is slight. Let us then put our whole trust in Him who is able and willing to do us good, and who, by the death of our friends, is evidently desirous of drawing us to Himself.

My health is better now than formerly, and we have all been well till within a few days. Our little Kate whom you will remember, was taken down sick with typhoid fever about a week ago

and is now very low. We are feeling anxious about her, as there have been many deaths from that disease in Detroit this fall. Still, we have hope. But, oh! you have no hope. Your darling is gone. If she could have been spared, how happy, thrice happy, you would have been!

I trust your good father in Vermont will live many years yet, and that we shall see him in the land of the living. I cannot bear the thought that all those good men should die. We need their example and advice and prayers. of him is eminently true, and is the best that could be said of any man. I should ask no higher praise.

All that you said

My school is full to overflowing, and is truly flourishing and profitable. On the whole, the hard times make easy times for me, for, owing no one. I have no debts to pay, and prices are greatly reduced, so that a given amount of money goes farther than it did before the panic.

Mrs. Bacon and the children both, (sick Kitty and well Charley.) desire to be remembered affectionately to yourself and wife, and hope that when you come this way you both will make us a good long visit. I hope you will write us all the news you may get from the East.

Truly and affectionately yours,

WASHINGTON A. BACON.

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq.

BURLINGTOM, Iowa. April 27, 1858.

Dear Sir: In the last number of your paper, received by me, (not now before me,) you speak of the current opinion in your section that I prefer the nomination of Mr. Thorrington as the Representative of your Congressional District, and indicating that I agreed to support him in case he withdrew as a candidate for the U. S. Senate. Allow me to say that

1st, I never had a word of conversation with Mr. Thorrington on the subject of a nomination to Congress except incidentally a few days ago.

2d. I never made any such promise, as intimated, that I would do any such thing.

3d. Mr. Thorrington did not withdraw as a candidate for the Senate, unless it be construed a withdrawal to abide the result of a caucus when fairly defeated.

Allow me to further say that I have not and shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, in the selection of a candidate for Congress in your District, for several manifest and substantial reasons, among which it is only necessary to specify at this time

1st. Because I am a non-resident of the District. 2d. Because my more immediate personal and particular friends are divided in their choice, some desiring one and some another, and it would be exceedingly impolitic and improper for me to mingle in the strife between them.

3d. Because the nominee, whoever he may be, will be likely to be my colleague at Washington, and I do not intend to place myself in antagonism to him before we get there.

The truth is, that I have not ever expressed to any human being a preference for any one, and shall not do so. I have heard that I favored three or four different persons for this office. It is thought by some that my name will aid their progress. Others think that my reported advocacy of their antagonists will improve their own chances, and thus my name is bruited about between them, much to my chagrin and displeasure.

I do not wish to get into the newspapers in this connection. I abhor that kind of notoriety. I do not, therefore, write this with a view to publication, but simply to let you and your friends in your place know the facts. You will therefore understand that this is designed for your eye alone.

I judge by a recent number of your paper that you are a native of New Hampshire, like myself. I regret that I did not make your acquaintance last autumn when I was in the north part of the

State. I congratulate you upon publishing one of the very best newspapers, and certainly the best looking newspaper, in the State.

I am very truly your friend,
JAMES W. GRIMES.

To A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq.,

Editor Intelligencer, Charles City, Iowa.

DETROIT, MICH., Jan. 24, 1859.

My Very Dear Friend: I have been waiting some time for leisure to write you a good long letter, such as you deserve and such as I should like to write, were I not always jaded out with this everlasting school and other undodgeable duties on top of it; but as such time seems loth to appear, I have taken up my pen now, upon dismissing school, and shall scribble on until the dinner bell calls me away.

Well, friend Hildreth, I have heard from you often, and in places and positions that made me feel proud of my old pupil. Your remarks on female education, before the Iowa State Board of Education, at Des Moines, were very similar to those recently expressed by our Republican Governor, Wisner, and are such as meet with my hearty approbation. I do hope you will succeed in your efforts in behalf of the girls of Iowa. They are deserving, I happen to know, for, in company with my wife, I spent an evening with a hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen at Clinton, Iowa. last July, at an anniversary festival, and I can truly say that I was never more highly entertained in my life. We were traveling for pleasure, and should have visited you, had not the heat been so great and mosquitoes so thick. I don't know as we could have found you, but we felt that it was not right to set foot in the same State without making you a call. How far is your home from Clinton on the Mississippi? How long would it have taken us to reach you? Will you and Mrs.

H. go east next summer? If you do, make us a good visit. Come and stay a week and we will collect material for a good long article in your paper.

My health is was last year. than formerly.

not good, but I am better than I I ride every day and study less Much reading I find is weariness. to the flesh, especially after teaching all day. Mrs. Bacon and the children are well. They often speak of you and wish to be remembered. My school remains the same; always full; and affords us a competence. I do not intend to teach more than half of the time hereafter. I am now in my ninetieth quarter in Detroit, and over one hundredth in the State and Territory of Michigan! There is a fact for you.

One year ago yesterday my poor father, (your friend,) was laid away in the grave. The place of my nativity is a heap of ruins. There are none there now to take me by the hand in welcome, should I return. A long row of graves would salute me, and the sighing winds over the hill-tops would be the only familiar sounds to fall on my ear. Oh! my friend, my heart aches when I think of the past, and I tremble at the prospect of the future. How soon, oh! how soon, will it be said of us, as of them, "they are dead." The Lord help us to be prepared for the great change that awaits us!

I hope you will find time to write often. We are always so glad to hear from you, and through you of your father and mother, who I hope are quite well. Affectionately your friend, WASHINGTON A. BACON.

To A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq.