MANUSCRIPT: destroyed.

PUBLICATION: L (1894) 290-291; L (1931) 263-264, where it is dated: "Saturday," presumably the date given by ED.

The Cattle Show in 1881 took place on Saturday, 24 September. Garfield died, 19 September. The postmaster was John Jameson. Thomas Kelley was Maggie Maher's brother-in-law. For a note on Professor Fiske, which will explain the allusion here, see letter no. 1042. Most of the scriptural quotations are too well known to need identification. The last one, from 2 Timothy 4.7, may have been purposely altered: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."