_Monterey [December 1879]._
MY DEAR COLVIN,--I have been down with pleurisy but now convalesce; it
was a slight attack, but I had a hot fever; pulse 150; and the thing
reminds me of my weakness. These miseries tell on me cruelly. But things
are not so hopeless as they might be so I am far from despair. Besides I
think I may say I have some courage for life.
But now look here: