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
*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 Eastborn
[END OF PAGE 3]
[PAGE 4]
[Address]
To/
Mrs. Nicholas,-/
Hamilton,-/
Madison County,/
New York/
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
