In another letter, he offers his sympathy to
that gentleman, who was suffering under a severe
domestic loss. He is sorry, he says, that the
misfortune has fallen on such a man, while the
profligate and unthinking so often pass through
life without such visitations ; but he reminds his
friend, that the affliction is meant in kindness by
Him who sent it ; he begs him to remember,
how many beautiful flowers have withered under
his eye, and how often an untimely frost has de-
stroyed the early promise of the year ; and, while
the feelings of nature cannot be repressed, the
duty of man is to receive gratefully what Heaven
bestows, and what it has left us, and not to mourn,



70 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.
as without hope, for those blessings which arc ta-
ken away.
