Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3030 B
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE September 30th 1833
AUTHOR Catherine R. (Irving) Paris
RECIPIENT Ann(e) Hoffman Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
DESCRIPTION Letter on the birth of Catherine Paris’s son.
PEOPLE Mrs Welch,
PLACES
EVENTS Birth of a Catherine Paris’s son,
KEY WORDS
* Original spelling retained throughout work, content appears exactly as written.
[PAGE 1]
Albany Sept 30th 1833/
My dear Sister Nicholas/
She last week, has been a peculiarly/ happy [friend] to me, & will I trust be long. I gratefully remembered/ on Thursday morning I received another expression of the divine/ [favour], & a [seen] cause of grateful praise, humility & devotedness/ in birth of a son. [which] the god of mercy is thus [multiplying]/ his blessing upon me, I desire to receive with them the solemn / impression of [unrecovered] enhanced obligations, and to [unrecovered] their sanctified / results in a now entire & exclusive consecration to his service/ & glory- Mrs Welch is doing well, I presently feel grateful/ acknowledgment for your kind remembrance & especially for the/ manner in which it has been indicated in the gift of your/ brothers “winter in the nest”- these charming columns are pecu-/-liarly valuable to her at this time, as they will afford a source/ of much amusement, in their graphic sketches of scenery &/ characters, relieving the tediousness of her confinement & they will/ be carefully preserved as a memorial of your kind regard. I/ do not [sample] in this abrupt manner to [announce] an event with/ which my happiness is so intimately canceled because I am persuaded/ that you feel an interest in whatever may involve my personal/ welfare & domestic comfort. This event will also be a sufficient apology/ for Mr. W. in making me the medium of acknowledging your kind-/-ness. Among the [unrecovered] of the last week was your/ kind letter which reached me on Wednesday [unrecovered] I have received im-/-mediate reply but for the multiplicity of [unrecovered words] my time & affection.
[END OF PAGE 1]
[PAGE 2]
I employ my first leisure in exploring the pleasure imparted by the/ recognition of your well known hand & the [perusal] again & again of the/ thoughts in had [heard] upon the sheet- you will permit me to say/ my dear sister that I know full well how to reciprocate the feeling/ & sentiment of Christian [regard] & affection that breathes through your/ comments if God has bless’d my labors to the promoting of your/ spiritual interests, if they have at all tended to enhance your [unrecovered]/ & to unfold to your mind, the unsearchable wishes of our redeeming/ God “I therein do greatly rejoice, [unrecovered] & I will rejoice” for is there not/ reasons [strong] [unrecovered words]? I [discern] in you a soul, not only delivered/ from the [dominion] & degradation of sin & the [terror] of its peaceful & eternal/ curse, but a mind rescued from those fascinating fatal illusions,/ by which the subtle friend of hell [unrecovered] & drags down to death/ so much lofty & culminated intellect- the brightest minds that distain/ submissions to the ordinary impulses of passions & are elevated above the/ vices that degrade our nature, [for] submissively & passively to infernal/ [disposition], when the pride of human reason [forget] the lottery of the/ tyrant & literary [immersion] is the fact that allures to destruction/ from the “snare of the fowler” you my dear sister through/ abounding grace escaped; I may be permitted to indulge a sympa-/-thetic joy with you, in your emancipation from so fearful a bondage/ especially if I participate instrumentally victory over the/ destroyer. But I know not how to apply to those expressions of/ [unrecovered] commendations you have connected with this feeling-/in this I must confess my embarrassment- you express yourself in/ all the ardance & sincerity of your heart. Influenced by the partiality of/ Christian friendship- but in the retrospect of my labours in the/ [cause] of truth, I feel that my effects have not only been imperfect/ altogether inadequate to the just demands of a cause so holy, & [responsi/=bility] so great, but utterly nonetheless- if the seal of the/
[END OF PAGE 2]
[PAGE 3]
[divine] [favour] has in any instance been affixed to them, it is only/ another among ten thousand instances of the mournful condescending/ & infinite goodness & forbearance of God/
Your interesting young “protege” I [staining] has been/ [dangerously] ill, but is now happily convalescing- I visited him/ when his recovery was [consied.] doubtful and I was pleased with the spirit/ of fortitude & submission he manifested- I have yet much confidence/ in the piety of the young man, I indulge the hope that he will/ one day occupy the important station in the [Zion] of God./ I have seed the “Republic of L[staining]” from 33 to 66- the 3rd/ volume is I believe include in 53 to 65 is it not so? The 4th comment/ with “Marriage a Novel”- I pray who is the mister? This imp-/-ortant information must decide for [staining] I can afford/ time for pursuing it- I have not yet looked over the [Nos.]/ but merely into them, which the permeable design a good one/ as [forming] a library [select] “[belles] letters,”- /
I set down with the design of writing you at least a reasonable/ letter but questions whether you will be able to make it out- my vile/ unintelligible scribbling reminds me forcibly do this anecdote of a/ [gentleman] who [closed] a letter to a friend with “I have been trying in/ vain to read this but your superior scholarship will doubtless en-/-able you to make it out”! But even should this hope fail, I have another in reserve, for I expect to be in N York this ensuring/ week, & can call & aid you in translating this [unrecovered]-
Very Affectionately your friend and brother in Christ/
A. P. Welch
[END OF PAGE 3]
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
