New Orleans February 6, 1862.
.....She’s a very pleasant little lady--rather pretty--about 28,--say
5 feet 2 and one quarter—­would weigh 116—­has black eyes and hair—­is
polite and intelligent—­used good language, and talks much faster than I
do.

She invited me into the little back parlor, closed the door; and we were alone.  We sat down facing each other.  Then she asked my age.  Then she put her hands before her eyes a moment, and commenced talking as if she had a good deal to say and not much time to say it in.  Something after this style: 

Madame.  Yours is a watery planet; you gain your livelihood on the water; but you should have been a lawyer—­there is where your talents lie:  you might have distinguished yourself as an orator, or as an editor; you have written a great deal; you write well—­but you are rather out of practice; no matter—­you will be in practice some day; you have a superb constitution, and as excellent health as any man in the world; you have great powers of endurance; in your profession your strength holds out against the longest sieges, without flagging; still, the upper part of your lungs, the top of them is slightly affected—­you must take care of yourself; you do not drink, but you use entirely too much tobacco; and you must stop it; mind, not moderate, but stop the use of it totally; then I can almost promise you 86 when you will surely die; otherwise look out for 28, 31, 34, 47, and 65; be careful—­for you are not of a long-lived race, that is on your father’s side; you are the only healthy member of your family, and the only one in it who has anything like the certainty of attaining to a great age—­so, stop using tobacco, and be careful of yourself.....  In some respects you take after your father, but you are much more like your mother, who belongs to the long-lived, energetic side of the house....  You never brought all your energies to bear upon any subject but what you accomplished it—­for instance, you are self-made, self-educated.

S. L. C. Which proves nothing.

Madame.  Don’t interrupt.  When you sought your present occupation you found a thousand obstacles in the way—­obstacles unknown—­not even suspected by any save you and me, since you keep such matters to yourself—­but you fought your way, and hid the long struggle under a mask of cheerfulness, which saved your friends anxiety on your account.  To do all this requires all the qualities I have named.

S. L. C. You flatter well, Madame.

Madame.  Don’t interrupt:  Up to within a short time you had always lived from hand to mouth-now you are in easy circumstances—­for which you need give credit to no one but yourself.  The turning point in your life occurred in 1840-7-8.

S. L. C. Which was?