Letter from GEORGE PERKINS MARSH to SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD, dated February 5, 1853.
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Son Spencer, thou art little better than one of the wicked. Why dost thou not answer
mine epistles? Wilt thou write to all manner of formal. offical, pragmatical,
conventional, philistering corresponding-secretaries, and other hum-drum men of
straw, and not unto me, thine ancient gossip, who do monthly enrich thy pericranium
with good matter? Truly thou doest naughtily in this, and I will have amends of
thee.
After my last communication, which was from Milan, as I think we came to
Genoa, where we remained a week, & then by land to Lucca & Pisa, and
thence to Florence. We have been here a fortnight and shall stay some eight, or,
by'r
Lady, fifteen days longer, after which we propose to go to Naples by
water & if not anticipated by government orders to the contrary, to Messina,
where or in the vicinity whereof. We mean to stay till sent elsewhere. Luckily the
San Jacinto is broken down & can't get repaired before about the 15' of
March, so I hope for two or three weeks about Aetna, before she can come on to take
in Eastward. Aren't you rabid with envy at the thought of my wanderings? Don't deny
it, I know you are. You hate me, just as I hated Peter
Force, good man, when he bought Purchas'
Pilgrims out of Monroe's or Madison's Library for fifteen dollars! (I had
afterwards to pay $135 for my copy). Only think, now, what you would have made of my
travels! Wasn't I born with a gold spoon in my mouth, &
haven't I
thrown it away shamefully? Seriously, it is a shame, that I have not the knowledge
of , that every traveller, who goes a Sabbath day's journey from
home, ought to have. I see strange stones, plants, animals, geographical formations,
& gaze vacantly at them, but what availeth it? Well I'll write a book some
day, & show that an ignoramous is as good a traveller as any body.
Yesterday I went to the Museum of Nat. Hist. & saw a great many things,
& among others a camel's skeleton, which reminded me that the Grand Duke has
150 camels down here at Pisa. Now camels be mortal, like other cattle, &
when they die, they leave skeletons behind them. Therefore, let your next Sendung of
Smithsonianisms to Tuscany be accompanied
with a Supplica for one of those
skeletons to be forwarded from Leghorn to New York, and it shall be done.
My
poor old woman has been very poorly ever since we left Milan. Two weeks in Florence,
and not once to the galleries! Well, it is hard, & had she not patience, she
would die of it. Her eyes have been worse for two or three months than for years
before, but she will manage to dictate a letter to Mary soon. The 4' of March
& my recall are not far off. I dread returning to America, for reason you
wot of, but must put the best face on if I can. Two counsels I give thee. Don't work
yourself to death, & don't work yourself to death in nothings. 'Tis as good
as , and the labels on box covers
and addresses of envelopes . Fare you well.
Yours TrulyG P MarshProf. S. F. Baird
References in this letter:
The archivist Peter Force, Marsh's friend, reprinted John White's , originally published in 1630 by William Jones in London. It was a defense of life in New England farming colonies.
Samuel Purchas, Microcosmus, or, The historie of man: relating the wonders of his generation, vanities in his degeneration, necessities of regeneration. London, 1619.