[9] Mr. Sperry was Mr. Henderson's son-in-law, and at the time managing editor of the _Evening Post_.
"After our return here this week a letter came from Mr. Sperry begging my father most earnestly _not_ to publish the article, as it would certainly be followed by abuse of Mr. Henderson in the _Times_--abuse more virulent than ever before--because in this article the _Times_ was attacked, although indirectly, and most _severely censured_. It was _urged_ that my father should not persist in publishing what would cause such distress to Mr. Henderson, already so worn by his troubles. On this score my father felt that he must yield, but he did it most unwillingly and quite ungraciously.
"I am anxious, however, that you should know what has passed; and should know, also, that my father, averse as he is to such constant watchfulness, has had much to combat in keeping attacks on you out of the papers, and has insisted that you should not be treated in the _Evening Post_ otherwise than with respect. You may think that he has not exerted himself in your behalf, as he might have done for an old and esteemed friend, and one who has done him such good service; but, truly, it has required no small effort on his part to keep the paper as moderate as it is.
"I am obliged to finish in great haste, as I am just going to town.
"138 EAGLE ST., ALBANY, _Aug. 8th, 1876_.
"DEAR MISS HUNT,--I lately learned by chance that it is to you that I am indebted for a copy of the new edition of the works of Ed. Livingston on criminal jurisprudence. No information as to the source of the presentation had ever before reached me. I ought, perhaps, to have caused inquiry to be made into that matter, but in the rush of things amid which I have lived, did not. The work which has fallen on me in my present career has been constantly outgrowing my help and my own capacity for attention to the secondary things; and I must confess in myself a tendency to become more and more absorbed, with increasing intensity and increasing persistence, in the parts of the work on which its success depends as on the turning-points of battle--a habit not favorable to secondary things, very unfavorable to the human machine, but surprisingly serviceable to the work which gets the benefit of it.