I take my earliest opportunity to answer your favor of Feb. 23.

Bissell was premature in calling me a “shrewd man.” I wasn’t one at that time, but am one now—that is, I am at least too shrewd to ever again invest in anything recommended put on the market by George P. Bissell & Co., of Hartford, Conn. I know nothing whatever about the Bank Note Co., & never did know anything about it. Bissell sold me about $4,000 or $5,000 worth of the stock at $110, & I own it yet. He sold me $10,000 worth of another rose-tinted stock about the same time. I have got that yet, also. I judge that a peculiarity of Bissell’s stocks is that they are of the staying kind. I think you should have asked somebody else whether I was a shrewd man or not—for two reasons: the stock was advertised in a religious paper, a circumstance which was very suspicious; & the compliment came to you from a man who was interested to make a purchaser of you. I am afraid you deserve your loss. A financial scheme advertised in any religious paper is a thing which any living person ought to know enough to avoid; & when the factor is added that a Mallory runs that religious paper, a dead person ought to know enough to avoid it.