Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/63

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I am sure you cannot hate that word. It is a good old word, venerable for its antiquity, lovely in its associations. The dearest friend of my youth was my first and only love, my charming Nannie, who has blessed and who now cheers and comforts me and lends all the enchantment of "young love's dream" to the word. "Blood is thicker than water," and I do love my worthy cousins.

. . . . I am very much occupied in keeping the stars in order. I have one in custody at present, taken up under the "Vagrant Act"—a mulatto! It is unique, and a perfect little love. . . . I have two pairs of double stars which [William] Lewis Herndon makes 20" or 30" farther apart than the great Bessel represents them to be. These must be looked after; and if they have moved that much, the discovery will be a grand one. I have them in my pocket now though, and I'll keep them till you come, so we may look after them together. Besides, there is the "great refraction circle," which has just come; you must help me to mount that. It an exquisite piece of machinery; I should like to wear it round my neck, it is so beautiful!

The following letters to his kinsman and friend, Mr. Blackford, explain Maury's motive in accepting the appointment at Washington.

A prosperous and a happy new year to you and yours. You are equal to Brodie Herndon for pleasant letters. . ..

I send you a copy of our observations; not that I expect you, Cousin Mary, or Lucy, to read it through, but for the chance of a silent lesson which your boys may sometimes find in it.

The colleges are warm in their commendation of the volume, and it amuses me that almost every one expresses