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I am decidedly of opinion that you should try Howe's press, for I am not at all pleased with the disposition of Mr. --- to make so much money out of everything connected with the printing for the blind, and his charge for his press seems to me most extravagant. As for the patent upon it, I do not value it a rush, and if I were disposed to build a new one I should do so without any hesitation. I dislike the miserable device of patents; it is only the key by which Mammon locks up light, that he may peddle it out for his own profit: knowledge and truth are profaned by being brought down into the market place and bought and sold like merchandise. However, I should respect the law of the land and never infringe a patent; but, in justice and equity, the whole value of the press in question belongs to this Institution; because all the experience necessary to make it was gained by Mr. --- while in our service; he made experiments and tried different presses and various devices, for all of which he was paid over and above his regular and very high salary.

This Institution therefore has a perfect right in equity and justice to build as many presses upon this plan as it chooses; and if your Institution chooses to build one, I am sure all concerned in ours would wish you success. The idea of paying such a price as he asked is preposterous, and it is far worse than preposterous when one considers that the money would have to be taken from a sacred fund of charity.

I would, with great pleasure, send you a "forma," but you can obtain what is still better for your purpose of an experiment, by getting from the Bible Society one of their stereotype plates of the Bible which was printed here three years ago. You will have no locking up to that. I send you however what is quite as important, a couple of sheets of paper of the proper quality. And let me tell you here, that you have got to fight your way through a hundred obstacles attendant upon a new business, -- the press -- the types -- the paper -- the drying -- the folding -- the binding, all are different from common works, and all have required of us a series of costly experiments. Whatever knowledge I can give you, I will contribute with great pleasure; you can send a man here to see our works in operation or I will lend you a man for a week or two to set you going.

All I have to say now is, that having the right kind of paper you must have it "wetted down" slowly, that is, laid between a pile of wetted paper for twenty-four hours; that you must have an india-rubber, or some very elastic blanketing, and you must put on great pressure perfectly perpendicularly, and force the surface of the paper down flat to the face of the plate. If your platina can be heated so much the better, though there is some craft quackery about this.

Please send me a specimen of the impression that you may obtain.

You must have in mind that "printing for the blind" is a misnomer, -- it should be embossing; if you talk to mechanics about it, you will mislead them by saying you want them to "print." Any press will print; but when it comes to "embossing," look out for your "arch!"

Ever truly yours, S. G. HOWE.

In 1854 he writes to William Langhorne, a benevolent gentleman of Virginia who had consulted him on the practicability of higher education for the negroes of the South:

"The plan seems to me to be fraught with grave if not insurmountable difficulties; (6) nevertheless I would never discourage anyone from entering upon any work of beneficence by dwelling upon the obstacles. My experience leads me to doubt the capacity of the blacks for such attainments as you look to. Like all of God's children, however, they have capacities capable of improvement. He forbade us to bury even the one poor talent in a napkin, and He will reward you for any honest and earnest effort in behalf of the unfortunate even if it should not be crowned with earthly success."

And in 1853 he writes to Miss Abby May.

"It is very desirable for the blind child that his claim upon his parents, friends, neighbours, or bondsmen, should be kept alive. This is done in part by insisting that they provide him with clothing, and take him home at vacations. It is found, especially with the ignorant of our own and foreign population, that if a blind child is taken off their hands, fed and clad, and kept in an Institution, after a few years they come to look upon him as a stranger having no claim upon them; whereas if they had been obliged to provide him with shoes, and to receive him at home during vacations, the relationship would have grown and strengthened. It is for the interest of the children therefore that we act, when we insist that the parents, or lacking parents, the relations, or lacking these, the neighbourhood in which they are born shall be held responsible for them. . . ."

The following letter speaks for itself.

BOSTON, April 8, 1853.

J. L. Caffelain, Esq., Actuary and Sec. Albion Life Insurance Office, London.