late Feburary 1883

Dear friend,

To thank you is impossible, because your Gifts are from the Sky, more precious than the Birds, because more disembodied. I can only express my rejoiced surprise by the phrase in the Scripture "And I saw the Heavens opened." I am speechlessly grateful for a friend who also was my friend's, and can scarcely conceal my eagerness for that warbling Silence. The Page to which I opened, showed me first these Words. "I have had a Letter from another World."

Fathoms are sudden Neighbors.

Ignorant till your Note, that our President's dying had defrauded you, we are grieved anew, and hasten to offer you our sorrow.

We shall make Mrs. Chadbourne's acquaintance in flowers, after a few Days. "Displeasure" would be a morose word toward a friend so earnest and we only fear when you delay, that you feel more ill. Allow us to hear the Birds for you, should they indeed come.

E. D.