“God bless me and my wife;
  You and your wife,
  Us four
  And no more.”

To Mrs. Leonard, Dorset, August 3, 1869.

Your last letter endeared you to me more than ever, and I have longed to answer it, but we have been in such a state of confusion that writing has been a task.  The whole house has been painted inside and out since we entered it, and I dare say you know what endless uproar the flitting from room to room to accommodate painters, causes.  We have just been admitted to our parlor, but it is in no order, and the dining-room is still piled with trunks.  But the house is lovely, and we shall feel well repaid for the severe labor it has cost us, when it is done and we can settle down in it.  I write to ask you to send me by express what numbers of Stepping Heavenward you have on hand.  I would not give you the trouble to do this if I could get them in any other way, but I can not, as all back numbers are gone, and the copy I have has been borrowed and worn, so as to be illegible in many places.  Randolph is to publish the work and says he wants it soon.  I am constantly receiving testimonies as to its usefulness, and hope it will do good to many who have not seen it in the Advance.

How I do long to see you!  I think of you many times every day, and thank God that He enables you to glorify Him in bearing your great sorrow.  Sometimes I feel as if I must see Mr. L.’s kind face once more, but I remind myself that by patiently waiting a little while, I shall see it and the faces of all the sainted ones who have gone before.  Next to faith in God comes patience; I see that more and more, and few possess enough of either to enable them to meet the day of bereavement without dismay.  We are constantly getting letters from afflicted souls that can not see one ray of light, and keep reiterating, “I am not reconciled.”  How fearful it must be to kick thus against the pricks, already sharp enough!  I believe fully with you that there is no happiness on earth, as there is none in heaven, to be compared with that of losing all things to possess Christ.  I look back to two points in my life as standing out from all the rest of it as seasons of peculiar joy, and they are the points where I was crushed under the weight of sorrow.  How wonderful this is, how incomprehensible to those who have not learned Christ!  Do write me oftener; you are very dear to me, and your letters always welcome.  I love you for magnifying the Lord in the midst of your distress; you could not get so into my heart in any other way.

To Mrs. Smith, Dorset, August 8, 1869.

Half of your chickens are safely here, well and bright, and settled I hope, for the summer.  A., and M., who seems as joyous as a lark, are like Siamese twins, with the advantage of untying at night and sleeping in different beds.  I have not been well, and did not go to church to-day; but Prof.  Robinson of Rochester, N. Y., preached a very superior sermon, George says.  They have gone to our woods together.  We took tea a few nights ago at the Pratts, being invited to meet him and Mrs. R. They asked many questions about you and your husband.  We find the Pratts charming neighbors in their way, modest, kind, and good.  They take the Advance, read Katy, and like it.