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36 the lifting ones. I have no power to operate through them on the tendon which was torn from the lower part of the knee pan; so that I cannot prevent the knee from sinking under me. This then, you see, is the seat of the great injury. Though more ungainly, I sometimes think a stiff knee would have been more serviceable than a weak one.

The cheerful tone of your letter to Nannie gave us cause of congratulation. All hands, but the children and I, have gone to church. Betty is with me in the dining room running around the table for amusement. Little Nannie is upstairs, where she has been stowed away to be cheated into a nap. Judging by the sound of her little voice, she has almost played herself to sleep. I am acting as nurse, you know, to keep Betty from running out. She has just interrupted me to hear her repeat her little hymn you sent her, "Stars that on your wondrous Way." Nannie, too, from hearing Betty recite it, is very au fait at it; and so are all the little negroes on the Lot.

I sometimes lament the natural turn of these last for poetry and music. If Nannie attempts a new song, before she can play it, "Stewart," a lad of ten or twelve years of age, has caught the air, and pumps water or saws wood to the tune of "Flow gently, Sweet Afton," or whatever else happens to be the favourite air with us all for the time being.

Tell Mat I have applied for service on crutches.

Soon after his return to Fredericksburg, it was urged by the National Intelligencer (Washington paper) Maury should be made Secretary of the Navy. Other prominent