"'Tis just two years since I left this place for New York, and arrived in Boston the evening of the 3d of July. I hope MY DEAR BOY will arrive safe and pass the 4th of July with you. He is now on board the ship (and the steamboat alongside the ship) to the Balize. I have written several letters by the ship, and found I had a few moments to spare which I will improve by addressing you. I refer you to the letters to Mother Pickering for _particulars_--as I have not time to say much. I can only say, my dear girls, that I am very unhappy here for reasons you well know. _I part with George as though I was parting with my right eye_--but 'tis for his good and the happiness of all that he should go; take him to your own home, care, and protection; _he is no ordinary boy, but is destined for a great scholar_. "I am left here without a friend except my God! in a city where the cholera is raging to a great extent--100 are dying daily! and among them some of the most valuable citizens. A sweet little girl about the age of Ellen, and an intimate acquaintance of George's, who used to walk arm in arm with him, died this morning with the cholera, and a great number of others among our most intimate acquaintances have passed on. Mrs. Simons died in six hours! What is life worth to me? Oh, my dear sisters! could I leave this dreadful place I would, and die among my friends! The thoughts of my dear Maria and Ellen fill me with sorrow! I have mourned over their tombs in silence. I have been with them in my dreams, and frequently I meet them in my room and talk with them as though alive. All here is melancholy. When shall I see you, God only knows! I have relieved my heavy heart of a burden--a weight that was almost unsupportable. "In parting with my _lovely boy_ I have bequeathed him to Mother Pickering as a legacy--it being all that I possess! You will take a share of the care, and I know will be all that mothers could be for your dear sister Maria's sake! "Give my love to Grandpa Bemis, Father Pickering, and all the rest of the family. Say to them that _my mind is constantly with them_, and will ever be so. I have written in great haste and very badly, as I am on board the ship and _all is confusion_, with the steamboat alongside. Farewell, my dear sisters! Do write me a line. If you knew how much I prize a letter from you, you would write often. Adieu, and believe me your affectionate brother, "OLIVER TRAIN. "To Misses ABIGAIL and ALICE PICKERING, _Waltham, Mass._"