You will be glad to know that we have had very grateful letters from
the several stations in Kentucky to which we have sent barrels of
magazines and papers. To Eddyville and Greenwood we have sent twice;
and Dr. R----(at the latter place) still says, "Send more whenever
it is convenient;" so that we feel that the very miscellaneous
collections have been really appreciated and enjoyed. In each barrel
we sent large numbers of "Registers" and some good tracts, and then
filled in with miscellaneous magazines,--chiefly the illustrated
ones. This is hardly Post Office Mission work, but I don't doubt it
accomplishes much good, and I am always grateful to you and Miss
Ellis for suggesting it to us.... Do you continue to be in
communication with the Joliet Penitentiary, and is any one keeping
on with Mr. Beach's work for the prisoners? It is a constant help
and inspiration,--the thought of Miss Ellis's devotion to her work
and her faithfulness to the end!
A young Englishman in Frankfort, Ky., wrote Mrs. Hunert, in answer to
her card of inquiry:
"I do take the 'Register,' 'Unity,' and 'Unitarian;' I am almost
entirely dependent upon what I read here, as I can hear no Liberal
preaching, and meet with very few who have sympathy with Liberal
religious views. I did get the memorial of Miss Ellis, and will
prize it much, as I was better acquainted with her than any one
connected with the church at Cincinnati, and looked upon her as one
of my best friends, and a very noble lady. The day on which I
received your postal, I met the chaplain of the penitentiary here,
and he told me how much the Unitarian literature that was sent from
the East was liked by him; that it was all distributed, and enjoyed
very much by the inmates of the prison. If I had another copy or
two of Miss Ellis's memorial, I would give one to the chaplain, and
another gentleman,--about the only Unitarian I know here."
The following correspondence is with a workingman in Northern Ohio,--a
young Englishman, whose letters tell his story. He once rose at four
o'clock to write Miss Ellis before going to his daily work. One of his
first letters to her said:--