I do hope you will promise Mr. Lowell a course of lectures, few or more, next October.
The foundation of the Lowell lectures requires that courses shall be delivered, as often as possible, on subjects pertaining to Christianity, natural religion, etc., which may come as near to sermons as you like. Pray do not decline the invitation offhand. You would have a most appreciative audience. You see we are counting upon you, with two daughters at least, for the next summer and autumn. In haste to save the post,
Affectionately yours,
Asa Gray.
TO GEORGE ENGELMANN.
Cambridge, December 13, 1881.
My dear old Friend,—It is shabby of me to wait so long in response to your kindly greetings, which were dated on my birthday, November 18. But I was very busy when it came, and hardly less so since, and so I let it get out of sight.
Well, here we are once more, leaving dear friends on the other side, and now among our own kith and kin.
Glad to hear of your pleasant summer, and pretty good health now.
We had a favorable voyage home, which is more than those just before could say, and far more than any since....
Nees’s asters, of his own herbarium, I can nowhere find or hear of. But I don’t believe his herbarium (which was sold piecemeal) would have helped me much, considering how he has named asters for other herbaria....