December 17th.
My letter has been interrupted for two weeks, during which time I could not possibly finish it. In the meantime honors and burdens have been heaped upon me, and I have had little rest. We have succeeded in making our town the county-seat, and there are many public enterprises connected with the change which will have to be carried out—court-houses, administration offices, school-houses, bridges etc. I have been appointed commissioner of public improvements, a position which is just now really the most important of all the municipal offices. Although the building and improving will not actually begin before the spring, there are many preparations to be made, and one of my principal duties will be to obtain fifty thousand dollars on city bonds.
The sphere in which I now move and work is strangely foreign to the preparations of my early youth, yet how easily we adapt ourselves, if once we have tasted the joy of effort—the joy of seeing things around us develop and thrive. That is the peculiar charm of my present life, which it is difficult to explain to those who have not experienced it. It is strange how quickly we here learn without studying, and, after living in this atmosphere for a time, how easily we are suddenly able to do things which we never before paid attention to. And this gives us a glimpse into the fruitfulness of political freedom.
I have lately taken up for my recreation T. Livii Patavini Historias, and often you might have found me looking up words in the dictionary like a dutiful schoolboy. I have lost much of my classic knowledge, but I find after reading a few pages that my Latin comes back to me with a rush. I am expecting to receive Cicero s orations and shall probably read them with greater appreciation than at the gymnasium.
You may be surprised that I should turn again to the
