Baltimore, 15 February, 1777.
Mr. Hall, by whom this letter will be sent, will carry several letters
to you, which have been written and delivered to him several days. He
has settled his business agreeably. I have not received a line from the
Massachusetts since I left it. Whether we shall return to Philadelphia
soon or not, I cannot say. I rather conjecture it will not be long. You
may write to me in Congress, and the letter will be brought me wherever
I shall be.
I am settled now, agreeably enough, in my lodgings. There is nothing in
this respect that lies uneasily upon my mind, except the most
extravagant price which I am obliged to give for everything. My
constituents will think me extravagant, but I am not. I wish I could
sell or send home my horses, but I cannot. I must have horses and a
servant, for Congress will be likely to remove several times, in the
course of the ensuing year. I am impatient to hear from you, and most
tenderly anxious for your health and happiness. I am also most
affectionately solicitous for my dear children, to whom remember
Yours.
We long to hear of the formation of a new army. We shall lose the most
happy opportunity of destroying the enemy this spring if we do not exert
ourselves instantly. We have from New Hampshire a Colonel Thornton, a
physician by profession, a man of humor. He has a large budget of droll
stories with which he entertains company perpetually. I heard, about
twenty or five-and-twenty years ago, a story of a physician in
Londonderry, who accidentally met with one of our New England
enthusiasts, called exhorters. The fanatic soon began to examine the Dr.
concerning the articles of his faith and what he thought of original
sin. "Why," says the Dr., "I satisfy myself about it in this manner.
Either original sin is divisible or indivisible. If it is divisible,
every descendant of Adam and Eve must have a part, and the share which
falls to each individual at this day is so small a particle that I think
it is not worth considering. If indivisible, then the whole quantity
must have descended in a right line, and must now be possessed by one
person only; and the chances are millions and millions and millions to
one that that person is now in Asia or Africa, and that I have nothing
to do with it." I told Thornton the story, and that I suspected him to
be the man. He said he was. He belongs to Londonderry.