Il6 INTRODUCTION
position to obtain knowledge, in proportion as the field is widened and extended, as precisely to your purpose in aid- in o- whatever objects you may have as an artist. And I am pleased to see that you seem yourself to have much the same opinion concerning it.
What you say about self-approbation I entirely accord with. Perhaps I may not wholly agree with you about vanity. For, though the good opinion of others can in no manner repay to us the loss of our own, yet the desire of pleasing is, within certain limits, at least amiable. We shall doubtless not disagree about the respectability of that sentiment which leads men to wish that what they think to be true may also be extended, and acquire as far as possible a universal assent. In this view I cannot avoid some re- spect for the labors of many ignorant and superstitious persons who conscientiously strive to extend the dominion of darkness, sometimes, it would seem, not wholly without success. But my paper is coming short, and, as I began without having anything in particular to say, so I end with- out any special disposition to go on. If I have written without method, so I began without an object, further than that of sending you a letter, probably the last which you will expect from me at present. So, as I soon hope to see you more often, I shall not say goodby, nor is it necessary at any time that I should subscribe myself
Yours truly,
J. W. Randall.
��Dear Frank, Boston, March i, 1858.
The weather seems altogether too bad to make a voyage to Beverly desirable. It is difficult here to take a daily walk without getting a severe cold, and I fear that in your
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