Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3028 B
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE 1834
AUTHOR Matson Eastborn
RECIPIENT Ann(e) Hoffman Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
DESCRIPTION Husband and wife traveling together.
PEOPLE Mrs Eastborn
PLACES Trenton Falls,
EVENTS
KEY WORDS Niagara expedition,
*Original spelling retained throughout work; content appears exactly as written.
[PAGE 1]
New York, Aug 4, 1834.-/
My dear friend,-/
Here I am still, in this place of hot sheets and un-/wholesome air. Tomorrow, however, I leave, but,- not for Trenton Falls./ My good wife would gladly have undertaken the Niagara expedition, were/ her state of health adequate to the fatigue of it:- but this not being/ the case; she had thought of taking up her abode in some one place/ in the country, and sending me off on my travels. This, however, on/ second thoughts, seemed to be not a very practicable resolution;- first;/ from the difficulty of finding a suitable place to settle down in, and/ secondly, because it is rather a lonely business for a man to/ be roaming all over the country, and his wife dwelling hundreds/ of miles off in a corner by herself. She has come to the conclu-/sion, therefore, to take the medium; that is, neither to take a/ long journey, nor to go without any journey at all,- but to make/ a series of little excursions. Tomorrow we begin by setting out for/ Mont[unrecovered] Point; and to what other point we shall next go I/ do not yet know, for we have formed no regular plan of ope-/ rations.- So much for the grand expedition;- let us put it/ down among the number of those day-dreams, with which we so/ often amuse our present hours, and which so often terminate/ in just nothing at all./
I received your letter No. 2; though so short/ an epistle is hardly deserving of an acknowledgment.- I was glad/
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[PAGE 2]
to find by it, that you were still well. I trust that you are privi-/leged to enjoy, my dear friend, that inward peace, which the children/ of God are encouraged in his word to seek after, and which all who/ do seek shall most surely obtain. I have much to complain of, in/ regard to the want of a constant and lively feeling of the presence of/ god; but, after all, whom have we to claim in this matter but our-/selves? To what is our absence of comfort owing, but to our failure in/ prayer - our neglect of communion with God- our [worldlings] of heart/ and of life?- I trust that the character of your experience is different/ from this of mine. Often have I blest God that it has pleased him,/ as I truly believe, to bring you to knowledge of that Savior who/ in the way, the truth, and the life. May I be allowed to express to/ you how ardently it is my desire, that you may grow in comfort, seek for daily advances in the belief/ of the Christian life. Let it be henceforth your great aim to live/ for eternity: make God your patron: walk consistently before the/ world: and the Holy Spirit shall descend into your heart, with all/ the abundance of his joys & blessings.- I mean by all this to say,/ how deep an interest I take in your welfare, and how strong/ is my [regard]; and to convey to you the assurance, that your happiness and prosperity form one of the frequent subjects of my pe-/titions to that father whose I trust you are, and whom I believe/ you serve.-/
Mrs. Eastborn desires to be most kindly remembered./ be pleased to present my affectionate regards to all the in-/mates of your dwelling. Though not personally known to me, they/
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[PAGE 3]
are objects of my attachment for your sake.-/
As ever/
Your friend/
Matson Easthom
[END OF PAGE 3]
[PAGE 4]
[Address]
To/
Mrs. Nicholas,-/
Hamilton,-/
Madison County,/
New York/
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
