"Dear Mr. Smith,—Will you see Mr. Cooper and communicate to him the following:
"The view which I took of the matter talked about between Mr. Cooper and myself yesterday is unchanged. If nothing can be raised in New York for the State committee, the best way is frankly to communicate the fact. It could scarcely be expected to foray on one man for the whole supplies desired. I am subject to a continual running fire of contributions. To deal with them, and with the applications now before me, or sure to come, will be as much as ought to be expected from me.
"When I was at the head of the committee I stopped the practice of distributing funds from the State committee to the localities; and nothing of the kind was done in any campaign which I directed, or in which I was a candidate. I doubted the system, and can scarcely be expected to renew it single-handed on my individual account.
"Of course, nobody will give or take any trouble to collect money, if all that is necessary is to ask one man for it.
"I do not just now feel very affluent. I have given away so much this year, and have been led into such large expenses that I am trenching upon my capital, and do not feel as indifferent to unnecessary extravagance as I might under other circumstances.
S. J. T."
HARRIET F. TYLDEN TO TILDEN
"Cumberland House, Chilham, N. Canterbury, Kent,
"3d Decr. 1881.
"My dear Governor,—In looking through the books in the library at Chilham Castle yesterday I came across four ponderous volumes of Halsted's History of Kent, published about one hundred years ago. In referring to the index of the second and third volumes, I found several entries of the name of Tilden as holding possession of manors in the reign of King Henry the Second. There was a parish called Tilden also, but, in the reign of Charles the First, the names of Tilden and Tylden seem to be used indiscriminately to designate the same individual. This carries out my husband's often-disputed assertion that there were family records in existence when he was a child proving that Tilden was the original name; but that, in the reign of Charles the First, the family divided into two branches, one following the fortunes of King Charles, calling themselves Tylden, and the other who sided with Cromwell, keeping to the old spelling, Tilden. And it seems to me that the Puritan names in your family, 'Samuel,' 'Solomon,' goes far towards proving the truth of the statement. We, while adopting the 'Y' in the surname, have kept fast to the Christian names of Richard and of John, but especially Richard. Nearly every Tilden in Halsted's History for centuries past has borne this Christian name. I think it likely you may have seen the book or have had extracts from it made for you. Should such not to be the case, I shall be only too pleased to copy out everything relating to your ancestors from the history at Chilham Castle. A lady in Kent is busy on a genealogy of the Tyldens, but as yet I have not seen it, and no doubt she differs from my husband in thinking the Tildens dropped the 'y' and inserted an 'i' in the time of Cromwell when they are supposed to have emigrated to America.
"I hope you continue in good health. We have seen your name prominently brought forward during the elections. The weather was dreadfully rough here after your nieces sailed. I hope they got safely back.