
Knowing that you will pardon the liberty I am taking, I venture to express the profound interest and pleasure which I have felt in reading your works—notably the "Leaves of Grass."
Three characteristics of this most original poem have endeared it to me—
the receptivity for the criminal; the veneration for woman, and her relation to future
generations; and the delight you manifest in Music.
As regards the first, I am firmly convinced that if the grand & loving spirit of
toleration you display to the Sinners, were more general, sin would be less frequent
and the sinner,—seeing the loving hand of a brother stretched out to aid
him,—would make more effort—So recover his position; and
so doing, would endeavor also to obey the command of Jesus, "go and sin no more".
As a woman, I cannot but be grateful for the expression of your opinion regarding her great & varied privileges; and as a teacher of Music, it has been a delight to me to read your exquisite expression of your love of that Art—the earliest of all nations & ages.
I know you must have more letters than you
can sometimes find time to read, but I feel that I must tell you of my love of your
beautiful poetry, and of my great esteem for the grand and free poet who has conceived
and written it.
Trusting that I have not trespassed on your valuable time,
Believe me, dear Sir, to be Yours most sincerely, Edith Surridge
