I certainly owe you an apology; & I must claim your indulgence for one of my ineradicable n bad habits—that of intending to answer letters, & stopping there. I always intend to answer my letters; but in seven cases out of ten it gets no further. Suppose you received more letters each day than you could conveniently answer? What would you do? I know what you would do; you would acquire my habit. Maybe you think you wouldn’t, but you wait, & you will see by & by. It is a very great pleasure to receive letters, provided they don’t have to be answered. I have one correspondent who always winds up with something like this: “Never mind answering this.” Now there’s true magnanimity; & you mark my words—that man will be an angel one of these days.

I was very glad you got the gold medal, but I knew you would know that, perfectly well, without my saying it; so I procrastinated—with the usual result. And I’m glad to hear about the music, drawing & German, & shall hope you will have the luck to succeed with all of them, & especially the latter fascinating but most formidable undert accomplishment.

Yes, I shall revise the new book & add some chapters during the spring, & publish it next fall, if my present purpose undergoes no modification.

But——here’s a pile of letters, & I must begin the work of intending to answer them; & right away, too, so I will say good bye to you for the present, & ask you to remember me kindly to your teacher.