cams_hparker_2311_f003_006_2

& that before its end was reached I should meet
with hardships & dangers & deprivations, to which
I was then a stranger -- & even if I reached
my journey's end in safety, I should then be
separated by thousands of miles from home &
the friends of my childhoods adoption ---

It was then however (thought I) no time to retrace
the steps which I had already taken, so I
pushed on eager to know my fate & end my
journey. Why I left home I cannot tell, even if
I ever knew, for every one who knew my sit-
uation when there ought to know that I could
not have bettered it by any change -----

Little did I then think however, that I should
be absent from home two long years -- still
two years have passed away & we yet remain
separated -- the two past years have caused no
material changes with us -- with the exception
of Charles we have all enjoyed a comfortable
state of health, for which we ought to be thank-
ful -- Many changes have taken place around
us however, among our friends & acquaintances
in Pepperell & vicinity. Soon after I left home
Harriet Tucker & Martha J. Colburn, were called
by death to leave this world of care & sorrow --
& since then others have been called to follow
them & among the number Esq. Jervett of whose
death you informed me in your last letter.

Truly "Life is uncertain."