To the Same.
NEW BEDFORD, Feb. 14, 1824.
MY DEAR FRIEND,--I cannot repress the inclination to offer you my
sympathy.{11} I have often thought with[139] pain of what was coming
upon you; and I fear, though long threatening, it has come at last with
a weight which you could hardly have anticipated. May God sustain and
comfort you! You are supported, I well know, while you are afflicted,
in every recollection of what you lave lost. Surely the greatness of
your trial argues the Kindness of Heaven, for it proves the greatness
of the blessing you have enjoyed.
{FN 11: Mrs. Ware died in the interval between those two
letters she was the daughter of Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, of
Cambridge, Mass. In 1827 Mr. Ware was again married to Miss
Mary Lovell Pickard.}
But, my dear sir, I will not urge upon you words which are but words,
and touch not the terrible reality that occupies your mind. You
want not the poor and old sayings of one who knows not--who cannot
know--what you suffer. You need not the aids of reflection from me. But
you need what, in common with your hands, I would invoke for you,--the
aid, the consolation that is divine. God grant it to you,--all that
affection can ask,--all that affliction can need,--prays
Your friend and brother,