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
On the 1st of April, 1829, Mrs. Ware sailed from Boston, with her
husband, in the ship Dover, for Liverpool. One of the older children was
left at board and in school, the other in Mr. William Ware's family, in
New York; while the infant was confided to Mr. Ware's sister, Mrs.
Lincoln,--an arrangement that relieved the mother of anxiety, as far as
was possible with any separation. But no parent will need to be told
what she must have suffered, at best, in leaving behind her her first
babe, not a year old, to cross the ocean and go into distant lands for
an indefinite time, with a sick husband on whose restoration or return
no calculation could be made. Yet we see in her not a moment's
hesitation, we hear from her no expression of doubt or the least
despondence. Physicians and judicious friends advised the step, her
husband's health and power of usefulness, if not his life, might depend
upon it; and this was enough, even if her own judgment had differed, as
we have no reason to think it did. It was a feature of her mind very
prominent, as it must be of every well-balanced mind, that she never
suffered herself to be tortured with doubts or fears for the future when
the present duty was clear, and never lamented that she had done that
which seemed right and best, whatever the issue. As she writes, on one
occasion, of her own habits of mind and long experience:--"There is no
one thing that has been more important to my comfort, under any result
of my plans, than the consciousness that they were decided upon after a
full and careful deliberation of all other possible plans, and a calm
judgment concerning them all. Then I felt I had done all that poor human
nature could do; the rest was in God's hands,--it was all in God's
hands. I was satisfied that this decision was in the order of his
providence, and, come what might, I could never regret it, or spend one
vain, impious _wish_ that I had taken another course. But, in order to
make this decision satisfactory, I have always desired to know the whole
truth, and be convinced that I had a perfect view of the whole case in
hand; and have sought suggestions from others, not for my guidance, but
that I might be sure I had deliberated upon all the varieties of plan
which could be thought of."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account