A letter by the French Utopian thinker Etienne Cabet (1788-1856) of 7 April 1846 reveals that Cabet was a man of action as well as words. He writes to the physician Rostant: "Le porteur de ce billet est un ouvrier que vous avez déja vu et conseillé sans vouloir rien recevoir de lui quoique vous ne le connaissiez pas, ce qui m'attache toujours davantage à vous. Son beau-frère, qui est à sa charge, est atteint d'une maladie scrophuleuse pour laquelle il a cherché à entrer dans un hospice sans pouvoir réussir. Si vous pouvez le recommander et le faire entrer, faites le, je vous prie. Tout à vous de coeur. Cabet. Mon gendre va mieux."
[The bearer of this slip is a worker you have already seen and advised free of charge, although you do not know him, for which I will always be grateful to you. His brother-in-law, for whom he is responsible, suffers from a glandular disorder and has unsuccessfully tried to gain admission to a hospital. Please recommend that he be admitted, if you can. All my best wishes. Cabet. My son-in-law is recovering.]