To Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D.
Aug. 7, 1876.
DEAR FRIEND,--I can't be quite still, though I have nothing to say
but how good you must be, to see so much good in others! That is what
always strikes me [336] in your oraisons funebres, and equally, the
fine discrimination you always show. And both appear in your loving
notice of my volume.' Well, I take it to heart, and accept, though I
cannot altogether understand it. Such words, from such a person as you,
are a great thing to me. It is to me a great comfort to retire from the
scene with such a testimony, instead of a bare civil dismissal, which
is all I was looking for from anybody.
Mr. Dewey was urged to the publication of this last volume of sermons
by several of his most valued friends; and its warm acceptance by the
public justified their opinion, and gave him the peculiar gratification
of feeling that in his old age and retirement his words could yet have
power and receive approbation.
Rev. J. W. Chadwick wrote a delightful review of the book in the
"Christian Register;" and, supposing that the notice was editorial, my
father wrote to Mr. Mumford, then editor, as follows:
SHEFFIELD, Nov. 22, 1876.
MY DEAR SIR,--It is taking things too much au serieux, perhaps, to
write a letter of special thanks for your notice of my volume in last
week's "Register." If I ought to have passed it over as the ordinary
editorial courtesy, I can only say that it did not seem to me as such
merely, but something heartier,--and finer, by itself considered. I
was glad to have praise from such a pen. You will better understand
the pleasure [337] that it gave me, when I tell you that I set about
the publication of that volume with serious misgiving, feeling as if
the world had had enough of me, and it would be fortunate for me to
be let off without criticism. And now, you and Bellows and Martineau
(in a private letter) come with your kind words, and turn the tables
altogether in my favor.
I once wrote a review of Channing, and, on speaking with him about it,
I found that he had n't read the praise part at all. His wife told me
that he never read anything of that sort about himself. Well, he was
half drowned with it; but for me, I think it is right to express my
obligation to you, and the good regard with which I am,