It has been nearly two years since I last wrote to you, since which time, war has desolated our once prosperous and happy country, and drenched its soil with the blood of her sons. All has been excitement and turmoil. Many widows and orphans have been made--and the wail of anguish has been poured into the ear of the God of Sabbath. But I turn from the revolting facts which belong to the history of the nation--to consider the last sad hours of your revered grandfather, and to copy for your instruction and admonition his dying words. After having seen something of his daily walk through life, thought upon his sad and unexpected death, and in imagination mingled with the throng that followed him to his last resting place--your mind will naturally revert to the lonely homestead and its desolate inmates. But words cannot picture the anguished of our hearts, the gloom and loneliness of our home--after the last relic of its light and glory had passed away from our view. So you will follow me, my dear children, to that little store on Market Street; look upon the bare floor, and behold your grandfather--the gentle and loving man, in his dying agony! Listen to his words. He knew he was dying, for he said, in answer to a hope expressed, that he might live--"No, no, no! I am a dead man." After a pause he uttered, fervently, "Lord Jesus, come quickly." Again, said he, "I am a great sinner." Some one directed him to look to Jesus. "I do look to him. He is my all. He is very precious to my soul." Again, he said, "I deserve all I suffer, for I am a great sinner." I heard all this, but do not know how long I had been by him, when he said to me, "Charlotte, I have loved you always--dearly loved you--and I love you to the end." Then turning his eye towards your father, who was on the opposite side of him, said he, "Louis, I leave my family to you--my wife I leave to you." Some gentleman came up and asked, "Mr. Charless, who shot you?" He replied, "A man by the name of Thornton. I was called upon to testify against him in court last fall. While President of the Bank of Missouri, he brought me some bank notes to redeem. They were stained and had the appearance of having been buried. I asked him where he got those notes. He replied, he had bought them from some boatmen, who said they had found them under a stump, which had been pulled up from a boat having been tied to it. I told him that was a very unlikely story. When called upon to testify, I told, upon oath, what I knew about the matter, but I had no unkind feeling towards the poor fellow. I would have done him a kindness if it had been in my power. I have always tried to be a good neighbor--to do justly--and to love mercy. But I honor my country, and the majesty of her laws, and I have never shrunk from discharging my duty as a man, and as a Christian." Sometime afterwards he said, "How little we know what is before us."