Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/342

308 anything else. In that case nothing but correspondence by letter will remain for an exchange of views, and I shall then, if you desire it, write again when you will be relieved of your governor's business and more at ease.

Wishing you a happy New Year, I am sincerely yours. 

 &emsp; I have received your kind note of yesterday—in fact, I have been expecting some admonition of this kind for some time. My engagements have indeed very seriously interrupted my work, and I shall labor under the same difficulty for several weeks longer, at least until about the middle of March. I have written several chapters in the rough, but there is so much more to be done that I have no hope of completing the book this spring. Of course, I look upon it, not as a hasty job, but as a very serious task, and if I furnish you anything at all I want it to be the best I can do. All I can say now is that, as I have advanced in the work, my interest in it has very much increased; that I want to complete it, and that I mean to give my whole time to it as soon as the exigencies of my situation permit. I can only add that I should have finished it long ago, had I not been diverted from it by more pressing duties, and that I hope soon to be able to take it in hand again. 

 &emsp; Last night I received your kind letter of yesterday with a check for $600 to refund my travelling expenses during