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From Dawson Turner, Esq.* 



Yarmouth, Feb. 5, 180G. 



Knowing, my dear Sir, how frequently you heard 

 of us by Dr. Rigby, I was willing to put off the 

 painful task of writing to you, as long as I could. 

 A painful one indeed it is, and yet a most sweet one ; 

 for without experiencing equal affliction, you can- 

 not conceive the sensations of pleasure which the 

 affectionate kindness of my friends has occasioned; 

 and to you I may say, what I should be sorry to 

 say to any other, lest I should be regarded as af- 

 fected or foolish, that the reading of your letter 

 drew from my eyes the most delightful tears they 

 ever shed. 



You knew our poor babe, and you always treated 

 him with a kindness which his mother and I shall 

 never forget so long as we live; for those who were 

 kind to him have now the strongest claim upon 

 our gratitude. You know, therefore, what a loss 

 we have sustained in being deprived of him, even 

 without considering those dreadful circumstances 

 attending his death, upon which I cannot at this 

 time reflect, without shuddering with horror. And 

 yet in the midst of this calamity, the mercy of Di- 

 vine Providence was so striking in the preservation 

 of my wife and of my remaining children, that, if 

 it do but please the Almighty that their lives should 

 be spared, and her health and spirits restored, I feel 



* This beautiful letter was written upon the loss of his eldest 

 son, a most engaging child, who was, unhappily, burnt to death. 



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