I am very glad indeed to get the good account of Leigh that you give
me. I've feared that he might be rather a bore to you, but you make me
easy on that score. Also I am pleased that you think he has a
sufficient "gift" to do something in the only direction in which he
seems to care to go.
He is anxious to take the place at the _Examiner_, and his uncle
thinks that would be best--if they will give it him. I'm a little
reluctant for many reasons, but there are considerations--some of them
going to the matter of character and disposition--which point to that
as the best arrangement. The boy needs discipline, control, and work.
He needs to learn by experience that life is not all beer and
skittles. Of course you can't quite know him as I do. As to his
earning anything on the _Examiner_ or elsewhere, that cuts no
figure--he'll spend everything he can get his fingers on anyhow; but I
feel that he ought to have the advantage of a struggle for existence
where the grass is short and the soil stony.
Well, I shall let him live down there somehow, and see what can be
done with him. There's a lot of good in him, and a lot of the other
thing, naturally.
I hope Hume has, or will, put you in authority in the _Post_ and give
you a decent salary. He seems quite enthusiastic about the _Post_
and--about you.
With sincere regards to Mrs. Partington and all the Partingtonettes, I
am very truly yours,