I cannot exclude from my mind your melancholy situation. The griefs of
your father and sisters, your uncles and aunts, as well as the remoter
connections, often crowd in upon me, when my whole attention ought to be
directed to other subjects. Your uncle Quincy,[111] my friend as well as
uncle, must regret the loss of a beloved sister. Dr. Tufts, my other
friend, I know bewails the loss of a friend, as well as an aunt and a
sister. Mr. Cranch, the friend of my youth as well as of my riper years,
whose tender heart sympathizes with his fellow-creatures in every
affliction and distress, in this case feels the loss of a friend, a
fellow-Christian, and a mother. But, alas! what avail these mournful
reflections? The best thing we can do, the greatest respect we can show
to the memory of our departed friend, is to copy into our own lives
those virtues which, in her lifetime, rendered her the object of our
esteem, love, and admiration. I must confess I ever felt a veneration
for her, which seems increased by the news of her translation.
Above all things, my dear, let us inculcate these great virtues and
bright excellences upon our children.
Your mother had a clear and penetrating understanding, and a profound
judgment, as well as an honest, and a friendly, and a charitable heart.
There is one thing, however, which you will forgive me if I hint to you.
Let me ask you, rather, if you are not of my opinion? Were not her
talents and virtues too much confined to private, social, and domestic
life? My opinion of the duties of religion and morality comprehends a
very extensive connection with society at large and the great interests
of the public. Does not natural morality and much more Christian
benevolence make it our indispensable duty to lay ourselves out to serve
our fellow-creatures, to the utmost of our power, in promoting and
supporting those great political systems and general regulations upon
which the happiness of multitudes depends? The benevolence, charity,
capacity, and industry which, exerted in private life, would make a
family, a parish, or a town happy, employed upon a larger scale, in
support of the great principles of virtue and freedom of political
regulations, might secure whole nations and generations from misery,
want, and contempt. Public virtues and political qualities, therefore,
should be incessantly cherished in our children.