Ɛpsilon

To W. E. Darwin   4 May [1881]

Down

May 4th—

My dear William.—

Whenever your head feels comfortable will you read the enclosed documents 1, 2 & 3; but there is no hurry—1 It is a horrid bore that the U. States Funded Loan, (which I took at your suggestion) are likely to be redeemed.— You will see that I have been compelled to sell 1000$. I told the manager of the U. Bank, I wd consider what to do with the remainder of 14,000$. Can you advise me? Investments seem all so bad that I am inclined to think that I had better leave the 14,000$ invested in the U. States Government bonds & take whatever interest it may offer.—2 What do you think? I hope that you & Sara3 are fairly well.—

Your affect Father | C. Darwin

P.S I was glad to get your Malvern letter about worms—4 I suspect that worms cannot live where roots come near to surface, as they cannot burrow deep enough, when the weather is very dry or very cold.—

Postmark: MY 4 81

1
The enclosures have not been found. William had recently had a recurrence of symptoms related to a fall from his horse (see letter to W. E. Darwin, [13 March 1881] and n. 4).
2
CD bought $15,000 worth of shares in the United States Funded Loan in 1876; he recorded the sale of $1000 in shares and the receipt of £204 10s. on 23 April 1881 in his Investment book (Down House MS), p. 158. CD’s bank was the Union Bank of London, Charing Cross branch; the manager was Thomas Druitt.
3
Sara Darwin was William’s wife.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 but … hurry] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13144,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13144