"OFFICIAL REPORTER'S OFFICE, UNITED STATES SENATE,
"WASHINGTON, D. C., _Feb'y 1, 1885_.
"DEAR SIR,--I learn, through the N. Y. _World_, that you
have recently purchased for your library a 'Financial Diary' kept
by Thomas Jefferson when President of the U. S. I have at my home
in Virginia a similar diary kept by him in 1774, when a young
lawyer at Williamsburg and a member of the House of Burgesses. It
is the Virginia Kalendar for that year, well bound in leather with
blank pages, on which he wrote, and is a complete diary of his
'pai^{mts},' as well as Mrs. Jefferson's. I have never offered it
for sale, nor exhibited it except to friends who take an interest
in such matters. You would, of course, wish to see the diary in my
possession before purchasing it, if such should be your desire; and
as I do not know the price recently paid by you, I have no idea as
to the worth of the one for 1774. If you wish to have both diaries
in your library, I hope to hear from you on the subject.
"Very truly yours,
"THEO. F. SHUEY,
"_Assistant Senate Reporter_."