INFLUENCE OF LETTERS FROM HOME. 159 
tidings of the departure of some dear and valued 
relative or friend. 
Notwithstanding the painful sensations occa¬ 
sioned by the knowledge of the fact, that some 
dear object of the heart’s attachment or esteem 
has been for some months consigned to the cheer¬ 
less grave; the arrival of epistles from those we 
have left in our native land, produces emotions more 
powerful, and satisfactions more elevated, than any 
other circumstance. Letters sent home by those in 
distant climes, may convey all that undiminished 
affection prompts, but they awaken no recollections 
connected with the locality, the companions, and 
the circumstances of those by whom they are writ¬ 
ten. The scenes and society by which the writers 
are surrounded, are foreign ; and, next to the feel¬ 
ing of curiosity, the greatest interest they excite 
arises from the connexion with those for whose 
welfare every concern is felt. Very different are 
the effects of a letter from home, to residents in a 
distant land. Every circumstance connected with 
it awakens emotion; even the name of the place 
whence it is dated, recalls a thousand associations 
of by-gone days. They seem to hear again the 
familiar voice, and involuntarily mingle once more, 
in imagination and in feeling, with the circle which 
friendship and attachment had often drawn round 
the domestic hearth; and while perusing letters 
from home, feel all the force of the poet’s excla¬ 
mation, 
How fleet is a glance of the mind ! 
Next to the enjoyment of the Divine favour, 
letters from friends are among the sources of 
sweetest solace, and most cheering encouragement, 
to the sojourner in a foreign land. They excite a 
train of feeling which must be experienced, to be 
