TILDEN TO MRS. W. C. BRYANT
"New York, Sept. 17th, 1880.
"My dear Mrs. Bryant,—After I left the city two weeks ago, thinking not so much where I would go as where I would not remain, I found in my pocket a note which I supposed had been left to be sent to you. It was designed to aid an article which has doubtless appeared in your household in explaining its own advent—a friendly office, which, although too long delayed, must still be fulfilled.
"I could not resist the impulse to supply what you had, one day when I last had the pleasure of visiting you, casually mentioned as your only want. It may never again happen to me—if I lose that opportunity—to be able to fill the measure of a housekeeper's contentment; and I am anxious, if you will permit me, to procure for myself the gratification of witnessing such a novelty, as well as the sense of having contributed to produce it. Perhaps I ought to acknowledge a still more selfish motive. If the example of so much moderation shall have the influence to which it is entitled, I shall, doubtless, at some period not yet distinctly foreseen, share its benefits; and, notwithstanding all I can now do to signalize my appreciation of it, be reminded that I am forever your debtor. In the mean time, I remain, very truly,
"Your friend,
"S. J. Tilden."