“St. Louis, Mo., June 29, 1885.
“Dear Byers:--I have your letter written at sea, in which you give me the first information I had received that you had been displaced at Rome. I knew, of course, it was bound to come, for party allegiance with us is stronger than patriotism, and the pendulum of time was bound to swing against us, and we will be lucky if we are not indicted for horse stealing and for the murder of men who resorted to arms to destroy the very Government of which now they are the main supporters. Of course, in due time the pendulum will swing back, but meantime, we must lie low, else history will record Jeff Davis the patriot, and Mr. Lincoln the usurper.
“I am glad to know that you propose to settle at Des Moines. It is a beautiful and seemingly prosperous place, and if you can engage in any business there, you will soon have reason to feel a sense of security in not being the slave of the State Department.
“We are all here now, but in a short time Mrs. Sherman and all the family will go to Lake Minnetonka for the summer. I have some business which will detain me here a while, when I will follow, but I have a positive engagement at Mansfield, Ohio, August 15; New York, August 20, and Chicago, September 9 and 10. So you see I am kept busy. I have long experience and declare that it is harder for me to maintain a modern family with fifty dependents and a thousand old soldiers claiming of right all I possess, than to command a hundred thousand men in battle. Still I expect to worry along a few years, till summoned to a final rest. I now merely write to welcome you back to your native land, and to express the hope that Mrs. Byers will soon regain her wonted health, and that you, too, will settle down with as much contentment as you can command, after your long sojourn abroad. Hoping you will notify me of your arrival at Oskaloosa and Des Moines, I venture to send you this to New Wilmington, Pa.
“Sincerely your friend,
W. T. Sherman.”
Another letter of interest came from him:
“St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 30, 1885.
“Dear Byers:--Now I shall know where to find you. You are fully competent to manage your own interests, and I shall not commit the foolish mistake of proffering advice where it is not asked. I remember when money was worth 3 per cent a month (in California). It broke both lender and borrower, for the borrower simply gave up the houses and land mortgaged, and the lenders themselves became borrowers for the taxes. To-day money in the United States is worth 3 per cent per annum, and all over that rate is ‘risk,’ not interest. If I had money to lend, which I have not, I would not lend it on an Iowa farm at 8 per cent, but on a Government bond at 3 per cent, because I would conclude sooner or later I would have to take the Iowa farm, which would be an elephant. A farm is a good thing for a farmer, but a bad thing for an owner. Still I have good faith in the ultimate value of good farm land, because it yields annual crops, whereas mines and manufactories play out. My heavy expenses still go on. In St. Louis, we pay as taxes, full rent, and have to pay the objects of taxation direct. Thus our taxes are $2.50 on a full valuation, and we must in addition pay for watering the streets, for street-paving and improvements, for special police, for the militia and for schools. I can manage to make ends meet, but I wonder how a man can, in business, make profit enough to cover his family expenses. These economic questions will become the questions of the future.
“Mrs. Sherman is absent at the East, to visit Elly and Minnie. The rest of us are here. Love to all.
“Your friend,
W. T. Sherman.”
In October he writes again:
“St. Louis, Mo., Oct 23, 1885.
“Dear Byers:--I feel easier on your account, since you tell me that you find the business in which you were about to embark, overdone. Nearly all the calamities which have overtaken families in America, can be traced to the credit system, which necessarily prevails. I had enough experience in it to put me on my guard, and I am firm in my faith in Shakespeare’s ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be.’ And the consequence is that to-day I owe no man a cent, and have no incidental obligations as indorser or bondsman. All my children know this, and while I give them liberally of what I have, they never dream of asking me to borrow or indorse.
“There is a great deal of wisdom in Dickens’ character of Micawber. ‘Income, £100; expenses, £99.19.6--result, happiness. Income, £100; expenses, £101.4.3--result, misery.’ I quote from memory.
“If you and Mrs. Byers will be content with what you have, and live within your income, whether $1,800 or $6,000, your days will be long in the land of the living. Now, surely, even in Des Moines, you can supplement your income by the sale of occasional articles from your pen, which will add to your frugal fund most of the luxuries of life.
“In any and every event, I beg you will keep me advised of your progress, so long as I travel in this world of woe and mystery.
“Mrs. Sherman is now back from her visit to our married children at the East and I think we shall remain unchanged all winter. I have numerous calls, but generally answer that I am entitled to rest and mean to claim it.
“My best compliments to your good wife and son.
“Your friend,
W. T. Sherman.”
[CHAPTER XXVIII]
1886
THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW ENGAGES ME TO EDIT SEVERAL CHAPTERS OF THE SHERMAN CORRESPONDENCE--SHERMAN WRITES AS TO MAGAZINES AND HIS BOOK--THE GENERAL INVITES ME TO COME AND STAY AT HIS HOME IN ST. LOUIS--HE OFFERS ME THE USE OF ALL HIS PAPERS--I PUBLISH ALSO IN THE REVIEW A PROSE NARRATIVE OF THE MARCH TO THE SEA--MRS. SHERMAN READS IT TO THE GENERAL--BUFFALO BILL--GENERAL GIVES ME HIS ARMY BADGE--NIGHTS IN SHERMAN’S OFFICE--CONVERSATIONS WITH HIM--LIFE IN THE SHERMAN HOME--THE GENERAL’S COMPLETE RECONCILIATION WITH HIS SON “TOM”--INTERESTING LETTERS FROM SHERMAN AS TO MAGAZINES--HIS FORTHCOMING BOOK--FARMS AND TAXES--WAR HISTORIES--GRANT’S BOOK--NEWSPAPERS--CHRISTMAS LETTER.
The interval between my resignation at Rome and my reappointment as Consul General for Switzerland was spent in my home in Iowa.