I suppose your church is all in order, and your cares over as to the rebuilding....
TO JOHN TORREY.
November 4, 1870.
I have to-day a long letter from Bentham, which I would send to you, but that it is full of Compositæ queries and statements, which I have soon to attend to. What a worker he is, and what a good one!
At last accounts Decaisne and Brongniart were drilling. Rather old sojers, I think! Cosson[87] had dispatched his wife and daughter and granddaughter to England, and was communicating now and then by balloon-post! Bentham very well, and working hard at Compositæ for “Genera.” ...
I have an advanced class this year, and they come up here, and take up a vast deal of my time. But it is enjoyable work, as they are the pick of a dozen out of fifty or sixty of the preceding year.
March 28, 1871.
... I hope, with you, that the Domingo annexation will break down. But Grant is working for Cuba too, and that is worse than the other; ignorant blacks are better than Creole Spaniards to deal with.
TO R. W. CHURCH.
February 27, 1871.