Old Point Comfort, Va.

June 17, 1864

 

My Dear Anderson

                        Enclosed you will find a letter for Alice, which I will thank you to give to her and I also send you John's letter which with your last reached me more than a week ago. I am very sorry that I have not had time to give that and the one received from you previously, earlier attention, but now I have so much to attend to, that I almost despair of getting North this summer. But to the point, regarding your "transfer" to Washington, I say by all means, go. The old gentlemen who say to you, "stay in Lowell", are citizens of that place and regarding you as such, do not wish to have a young man of "steady habits" leave it. There, your future success is slow and sure. I think it is sure, / But the gratification of one's own tastes is something, and a matter to be attended to, where it is not done at the expense of others welfare. In Washington you would see and hear more in a week than you would in Lowell in a year. It is certainly true in our day, that position and honors will not be thrust upon a man, who does not in any way seek them. The old fashion of taking good men from their retirement is done away. I need not tell you that Lowell is a decayed town. It is much more honor to a man, to be born in Massachusetts, than to be a resident of the state. In advising you to leave Lowell, I am only renewing my old argument—that it is not a fit place for a young man to begin in. It is an impossibility to attain much, in that vicinity, either in wealth or honors. You are deserving of both, and I do not wish to see you forty years old before they begin to accumulate. In Washington you would begin a new life, you could make all the / acquaintances you desired, and such as you desired. If you could not make all these tell, in the course of two years, I should be disappointed. With a certain prospect of the salary you speak of, would you not be as well situated financially at the end of that time, as to stay in L. and could you not have also advanced as much in your profession? To me, it seems that as if you would gain considerable. There is not much fear of your contracting "bad habits" at W. and that is the worst evil of living there. I shall be very desirous to know what is your success in getting the position and also what the "situation" is.

 

            I find that "beautiful fossil" W^m P. Webster, is in this Department, in the very position that I wish you could have—Provost Judge. I wish I had time now to write you fully of what is transpiring here, of my fixed impression in regard to the 5/20's, and of my abiding faith in General Butler, but I can't do it now, and I write this hastily, more as an apology for my delay in noticing / your last, than as an answer to any of your favors. If I can find time I will soon write you again, but if not you will oblige me by "doing yours regularly". I am always

                                                                                   

Your friend

Selwyn E. Bickford

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