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Athens Ga Sept 24th 49

Dear Friends:

I feel assured that a few lines from
one who once had the happiness of participating in your meet-
ings, and who still feels bound to you by the strongest ties
of Fraternity, will not be entirely devoid of interest, and that
you — though the world might refuse to do so, will pardon the
egotism in which I shall, almost necessarily, indulge.

Since the stern necessities of fortune, which so
often, in this subverted state of human societies, overcome
our attractions and set at defiance our wills, made me
an exile from New England and from Associative society,
I have been, during the greater portion of the time, a wanderer.

When I turn to my "Traveler's Guide", and, on its
well covered map, trace my sinuous path from the shores
of Boston Bay to the banks of the Oconee, - when I call
up, one by one the many and varied scenes through which
I have passed, - when the multitudes of people of all classes,
with whom I have been brought in contact, pass in review
before my mind's eye, the few months which have elaps-
ed since I left Boston seem like so many years.
The rich treasures of experience with which they have en-
dowed me are such as years of seclusion could not
have bestowed. The life of a human soul cannot be
measured by months and years.

I have marked with a red line, on my map,