Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters

I should not have waited for Your letter My very dear Nicholas to have written to you, could My mind have suggested one solitary argugment of comfort. time alone, can soothe the heart, and all that the strongest reason can do, is to assist its operation by attention to the physical as well as moral sense. great attention to diet, exercise in the open air, company how ever hateful, and occupation that will force the attention will in time restore a degree of tranquility to the mind that in the first days of affliction we can not conceive will ever again exist for us. but if you can but preserve your health, I shall still see you happy I hope my dearest Nicholas in the society of friends and a family as warmly devoted to you as your own. you were born and have almost grown up under our eyes, and independant of the tie which will make you our own, I should still love you both, for your selves and for those whom whose memory will ever be most dear to me—our prospects are still improving, and the country is beginning to recover gradually from the misfortune occasioned by the banks. I hope we shall be able to assist you in time more effectually than by good wishes. Mr R will make $12,000 from his estate this year and our expenses are as limited as possible so that he will pay at least $10,000 of debt, once clear of debt and all our resources will be employed in the manner most advantageous to our children amongst whom you have long ranked in our affections. [. . .] My dear father’s affairs are also arranging them selves so as to give a reasonable prospect of seeing him relieved without a sacrifice—although the morning of your life has been overcast, yet may it’s meridian and evening be bright and cloudless. cherish hope, syren as she is, there is not more uncertainty in her visions, than in the gloomy forebodings of dispair, and after all there is so much uncertainty in all human calculations that it is most wise to indulge than that which most contributes to our happiness, at the same time that we neglect nothing on our side to ensure success.—

take care of your precious health, and write often to friends who love you to much not to feel considerable anxiety about you. remember me most affectionately to Browse, Mrs Brown, the dear little ones, and your father, and accept for your self every feeling of a mothers heart from, My Dearest Nicholas Yours