early 1886

Dear friend,

Thank you for the tenderness of a Stranger. Life is deep and swift - Spars without the Routes but the Billows designate.

What a Comrade is Human Thought!

The Circumstance you so sweetly recall, steals from my remembrance. Thank you for an Act fragrant so far past.

In behalf of your liquid Note and your delicate Niece, shall I not think of you as the Bird and the Aid de camp?

E. Dickinson.