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Savannah 16 October 1852

My dear friend

I was truly distressed to learn by
the receipt of your letter of the 12^th ins^t that affliction
has also laid his heavy hand on you by depriving you
of your dear little daughter, we had heard rumors of
your bereavement by the previous Boat. I feared it would
prove true, as infants of that sort are very apt to be so

No one can tell what anguish a person suffers in
the loss of one so nearly connected by the ties of Love &
affection as a wife or a child until they experience it
themselves, how often have we looked on the faces of de-
parted friends & felt a sorrow, a deep & sincere one perhaps
yet how far short of that anguish which affected
the nearer friends & which so recently has been our portion

My dear Wife was long in a hopeless state and
Physician & friends had long advised me to prepare
for the worst. I could not see ^ her suffering day by day
& gradually wasting away without seeing for myself
what the inevitable result must be. I thought I
had prepared myself for the change which I was so
soon to meet, but it came far short of the reality.
I may say I now know what sorrow was before, how
much more keen my dear friend must have been yours,
deprived of your little girl without any such pre-
paration, it will be long ere we can realise our
loss - I have derived much consolation from the
reflection that my dear wife was imminently prepared
for that rest which passeth all understanding, & I