XXX vi LIFE OF WILSON. 



TO MR. WM. BARTRAM. 



Kingsessing, March, 31, 1804. 



"I take the first few moments I have had since receiving 

 your letter, to thank you for your obliging attention to my lit- 

 tle attempts at drawing; and for the very affectionate expres- 

 sions of esteem with which you honour me. But sorry 1 am, 

 indeed, that afflictions so severe, as those you mention, should 

 fall where so much worth and sensibility reside, while the pro- 

 fligate, the unthinking and unfeeling, so frequently pass 

 through life, strangers to sickness, adversity or suffering. But 

 God visits those with distress whose enjoyments he wishes to 

 render more exquisite. The storms of affliction do not last for 

 ever; and sweet is the serene air, and warm sunshine, after a 

 day of darkness and tempest. Our friend has, indeed, passed 

 away, in the bloom of youth and expectation ; but nothing has 

 happened but what almost every day's experience teaches us to 

 expect. How many millions of beautiful flowers have flourished 

 and faded under your eye; and how often has the whole profu- 

 sion of blossoms, the hopes of a whole year, been blasted by an 

 untimely frost. He has gone only a little before us; we must 

 soon follow; but while the feelings of nature cannot be repress- 

 ed, it is our duty to bow with humble resignation to the deci- 

 sions of the great Father of all, rather receiving with gratitude 

 the blessings he is pleased to bestow, than repining at the loss 

 of those he thinks proper to take from us. But allow me, my 

 dear friend, to withdraw your thoughts from so melancholy a 

 subject, since the best way to avoid the force of any overpower- 

 ing passion, is to turn its direction another way. 



"That lovely season is now approaching, when the garden, 

 woods and fields, will again display their foliage and flowers. 

 Every day we may expect strangers, flocking from the south, 

 to fill our woods with harmony. The pencil of Nature is now 

 at work, and outlines, tints, and gradations of lights and shades, . 

 that baffle all description, will soon be spread before us by that 

 great master, our most benevolent friend and father. Let us 



