Braintree, 10 August, 1775.
Dearest Friend,--'T is with a sad heart I take my pen to write to you,
because I must be the bearer of what will greatly afflict and distress
you. Yet I wish you to be prepared for the event. Your brother Elihu
lies very dangerously sick with a dysentery.[98] He has been very bad
for more than a week. His life is despaired of. Ere I close this letter,
I fear I shall write you that he is no more.
We are all in great distress. Your father is with him in great anguish.
I hear this morning that he is sensible of his danger, and calmly
resigned to the will of Heaven, which is a great satisfaction to his
mourning friends. I cannot write more at present than to assure you of
the health of your own family. Mr. Elisha Niles was very bad with the
same disorder.