I have had many opportunities, in the course of this journey, to observe how deeply rooted our righteous cause is in the minds of the people; and could write you many anecdotes in proof of it. But I will reserve them for private conversation. On second thoughts, why should I? One evening, as I sat in one room, I overheard a company of the common sort of people in another, conversing upon serious subjects. One of them, whom I afterwards found upon inquiry to be a reputable, religious man, was more eloquent than the rest. He was upon the danger of despising and neglecting serious things, and said "whatever person or people made light of them would soon find themselves terribly mistaken." At length I heard these words: "It appears to me the eternal Son of God is operating powerfully against the British nation for their treating lightly serious things." One morning I asked my landlady what I had to pay? "Nothing," she said, "I was welcome, and she hoped I would always make her house my home. And she should be happy to entertain all those gentlemen who had been raised up by Providence to be the saviors of their country." This was flattering enough to my vain heart. But it made a greater impression on me as a proof how deeply this cause had sunk into the minds and hearts of the people. In short, everything I see and hear indicates the same thing. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 185: This gentleman had been in Congress, but was now in command of a portion of the New Hampshire troops and had just returned from the victorious campaign against General Burgoyne.] [Footnote 186: Mr. Adams had been engaged as an advocate in this admiralty cause.] 226. JOHN ADAMS. Uncle Quincy's,[187] half after 11 o'clock, 13 February, 1778. Dearest of Friends,--I had not been twenty minutes in this house before I had the happiness to see Captain Tucker and a midshipman coming for me. We shall be soon on board, and may God prosper our voyage in every stage of it as much as at the beginning, and send to you, my dear children, and all my friends, the choicest of blessings! So wishes and prays, with an ardor that neither absence nor any other event can abate, yours. JOHN ADAMS. P. S. Johnny[188] sends his duty to his mamma and his love to his sister and brothers. He behaves like a man. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 187: At Mount Wollaston, a place in Braintree, lying on the bay, from which the writer, commissioned by Congress to go to France, took his departure on his first voyage, in the frigate _Boston_, Captain Samuel Tucker.] [Footnote 188: John Quincy Adams, ten years old, who accompanied his father.] 227. ABIGAIL ADAMS. 8 March, 1778.