Transcribe Hornaday, W. T. Letter to Ward, Henry A. (1882-05-27)

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ybg
{Written upside down at top of page -
You are mistaken in thinking 
I carried the idea in my 
first letter that Webster was
 to you. I only claimed
that he would make a better foreman
than the other, & that I am still sure of. When I see you I can tell you
things I cannot write. No objection to seeing letter at all.]

Washington, D. C.
Sunday, May 27th 1882.
 June 24
Dear Professor Ward;
 I was very glad to get your good letter
of the 23rd which I had anxiously expected. Naturally I
feel a deep and abiding interest in the </s Per? of them >
Establishment, and I only regret that I am entirely
unable to show it. I shall always take pride in referring
to it as my real Alma Mater and you as my bringer - up.
I am glad to see by Prof. Baird's letter that he, too, fully
appreciates your kindness to your impecunious,- and sometimes
 - "Boys". It would also have done you good to
have heard the encomiums of </s a > our Dr. White (C.A.) on
you and your peculiar and magnificent work as a scientific
educator of the masses. If you could live to read your
own obituary notices and your biography it would, I am
sure, partly compensate you for what you have endured from
"the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" in this life.
 It certainly is cold-blooded. reptilian in fact,
to ask a man who employs a large force, to give up his
best workman, whose services are so important. Prof.
Baird and I agree that you are "one man out of the
thousand" in your willingness to assist your assistants.,
for most men would cling to Webster - or one like him -
with a death grip. If of us could ever do anything to
benefit you in return it would not seem so much, but
the opportunity may not come until your children's day.
 Had Webster been a less-unfortunate man in his day I
would not have asked any sacrifice in his behalf; but
in his circumstances and with his temprement it is almost
a matter of life and death. I am sorry that he
is complaining so much, but after all it is not much

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ybg {Written upside down at top of page - You are mistaken in thinking I carried the idea in my first letter that Webster was to you. I only claimed that he would make a better foreman than the other, & that I am still sure of. When I see you I can tell you things I cannot write. No objection to seeing letter at all.]

Washington, D. C. Sunday, May 27th 1882.

              June 24

Dear Professor Ward;

    I was very glad to get your good letter

of the 23rd which I had anxiously expected. Naturally I feel a deep and abiding interest in the </s Per? of them > Establishment, and I only regret that I am entirely unable to show it. I shall always take pride in referring to it as my real Alma Mater and you as my bringer - up. I am glad to see by Prof. Baird's letter that he, too, fully appreciates your kindness to your impecunious,- and sometimes - "Boys". It would also have done you good to have heard the encomiums of </s a > our Dr. White (C.A.) on you and your peculiar and magnificent work as a scientific educator of the masses. If you could live to read your own obituary notices and your biography it would, I am sure, partly compensate you for what you have endured from "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" in this life.

    It certainly is cold-blooded. </u quite > reptilian in fact,

to ask a man who employs a large force, to give up his best workman, whose services are so important. Prof. Baird and I agree that you are "one man out of the thousand" in your willingness to assist your assistants., for most men would cling to Webster - or one like him - with a death grip. If of us could ever do anything to benefit you in return it would not seem so much, but the opportunity may not come until your children's day.

    Had Webster been a less-unfortunate  man in his day I

would not have asked any sacrifice in his behalf; but in his circumstances and with his temprement it is almost a matter of life and death. I am sorry that he is complaining so much, but after all it is not much