A few of them have united for this object, and now request your acceptance of the amount which I have to-day deposited to your order at the Concord Bank, through the kindness of our friend, Judge Hoar.  They trust that you will receive it as an expression of sincere regard and affection from friends, who will, one and all, esteem it a great privilege to be permitted to assist in the restoration of your home.

And if, in their eagerness to participate in so grateful a work, they may have exceeded the estimate of your architect as to what is required for that purpose, they beg that you will devote the remainder to such other objects as may be most convenient to you.

    Very sincerely yours,

    LE BARON RUSSELL.

    CONCORD, August 14, 1872.

    DR. LE B. RUSSELL: 

Dear Sir,—­I received your letters, with the check for ten thousand dollars inclosed, from Mr. Barrett last evening.  This morning I deposited it to Mr. Emerson’s credit in the Concord National Bank, and took a bank book for him, with his little balance entered at the top, and this following, and carried it to him with your letter.  I told him, by way of prelude, that some of his friends had made him treasurer of an association who wished him to go to England and examine Warwick Castle and other noted houses that had been recently injured by fire, in order to get the best ideas possible for restoration, and then to apply them to a house which the association was formed to restore in this neighborhood.

When he understood the thing and had read your letter, he seemed very deeply moved.  He said that he had been allowed so far in life to stand on his own feet, and that he hardly knew what to say,—­that the kindness of his friends was very great.  I said what I thought was best in reply, and told him that this was the spontaneous act of friends, who wished the privilege of expressing in this way their respect and affection, and was done only by those who thought it a privilege to do so.  I mentioned Hillard as you desired, and also Mrs. Tappan, who, it seems, had written to him and offered any assistance he might need, to the extent of five thousand dollars, personally.

I think it is all right, but he said he must see the list of contributors, and would then say what he had to say about it.  He told me that Mr. F.C.  Lowell, who was his classmate and old friend, Mr. Bangs, Mrs. Gurney, and a few other friends, had already sent him five thousand dollars, which he seemed to think was as much as he could bear.  This makes the whole a very gratifying result, and perhaps explains the absence of some names on your book.

    I am glad that Mr. Emerson, who is feeble and ill, can learn what a
    debt of obligation his friends feel to him, and thank you heartily
    for what you have done about it.  Very truly yours,