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My dear Brother,
A thousand thousand thanks for your Kindness! Would to heaven I had some richer boon to bestow, but Alas! I am powerless: and regret ah! bitterly regret, my inability to make a suitable return either in words or deeds, for the unexpected and liberal offer of assistance so promptly rendered in my hour of gloom and despondency.
Can I cease to remember that through the liberality of my brothers I am enabled to remain in the home of my childhood! A scene endeared to me by a thousand tender yet painful recollections, but I shall be wiser & better than elsewhere. I venerate the very oaks which sheltered me in my infantine gambols; every tree, shrub and plant, is associated with images of the past, the whole place breathes of my parents. The garden I have long regarded as holy ground, nor have I been able to look upon it of late but with the deepest sorrow: every object seemed eloquent with grief: and such were the irresistible appeals made to my feelings that I left it oppressed almost to suffocation by the harrowing thought, that this hallowed spot might soon become the property of strangers.
Yours my brother was the soothing voice and the helping hand which administered the balm of consolation to my wounded spirit: the dark clouds of adversity had gathered around me, and I was rapidly sinking under their pressure when your noble nature and benevolent heart brought you to