Page:Letters of Life.djvu/322

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LETTERS OF LIFE.

Such was she
Who left us yesterday. Her speaking smile,
Her earnest footstep, speeding to give aid
Or sympathy, her ready hand well skill'd
In all that appertains to woman's sphere,
Her large heart pouring life o'er every deed,
And her glad interchange of social joy,
Dwell with us as a picture.
There the heart
Shall muse, and contemplate each lineament
With lingering tenderness, through dropping tears
That tell our loss, and her eternal gain.



You have asked me, dear friend, for some sketch of my journeyings. During the earlier stages of matrimonial life we visited Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, where, having friends, we had opportunity of examining the principal institutions and distinctive attractions of those noble cities. Our longest excursion was to Virginia, where we were greatly interested in seeing the remains of the ancient church at Jamestown, and the university then newly established at Charlottesville; also in the privilege of meeting, at their own homes, ex-Presidents Jefferson and Madison, and, in Pennsylvania, the venerable Charles West Thompson, the secretary of the first Congress of the United States.

After the birth of our two little ones I was station-