Memoir of Mary L. Ware, Wife of Henry Ware, Jr.Hall, Edward B. (Edward Brooks)
Religion
Memoir of Mary L. Ware, Wife of Henry Ware, Jr.
Hall, Edward B. (Edward Brooks)
Unitarians -- United States -- Biography; Ware, Mary L. (Mary Lovell), 1798-1849
I don't know when I have had my feelings more excited. It
was a lovely little creature, and I have nursed it so much
since I have been here, that I found it had become an object of
great interest to me; not a day has passed that I have not
given three or four hours to it, and it was always so quiet
with me that it seemed almost to know when I took it. The
circumstances of the family, too, made it singularly affecting
that it should be taken away, and the suddenness of its death
seemed almost to bewilder me. Its poor mother is ill, and
between comforting her and coming home to my aunt, who is very
feeble, I scarcely know how to find time enough for either. I
have been up three nights since Wednesday last, and, with two
children to manage, I am almost mazed.
"I have tried to write this morning, for the baby was not out
of my arms a moment last night, but I cannot collect my
thoughts,--I don't know what I mean to say. You must state the
case for me. Could you look in upon me you might wonder I was
not crazy, but I shall do very well when I get a little sleep.
Do not feel uneasy about me; I am not in danger of being sick,
unless the prophecies of the old women here will kill me, for
they think, I believe, that I am too kind to live, and they
shake their heads most knowingly,--one proof among a thousand
how much more frequently our characters are estimated by the
circumstances in which we happen to be placed, than by any
other criterion. Do write, to the last minute. I cannot bear to
part with you in this unsatisfactory manner, but indeed I am
incapable of any thing more; my eyes are dazzled as I write,
and I must lie down. I shall write by the packet of the 24th
from Liverpool, so that you will hear of me almost as soon as
you get home; and I pray God that in safety and health and
increased happiness you may all reach 'that haven where you
would be, with a grateful sense of His mercies.' May God for
ever bless you, my dear, kind friend, and strengthen you by His
grace to pursue with success that path of virtue and holiness
which it is your wish to follow, and enable you to perform all
the duties which lie before you, consistently with His divine
will, and worthy of His acceptance. This can only be done by
humble reliance upon Him who is the way, the truth, and the
life, for guidance, support, and reward. He alone can enable us
to do that which we ought to do, and, feeling our own weakness,
let us rely with faith upon His promises, neither doubting nor
fearing the certainty of their accomplishment. But I cannot
write or think; I seem to feel that 'bonnie little bairnie' in
my arms still, and my nerves are something shaken. The worst of
the whole is that poor, unhappy young man, whose low moans are
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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