Th: Jefferson.




LETTER XII.--TO MRS. ADAMS, June 13,1804


TO MRS. ADAMS.

Washington, June 13,1804.

Dear Madam,

The affectionate sentiments which you have had the goodness to express
in your letter of May the 20th, towards my dear departed daughter, have
awakened in me sensibilities natural to the occasion, and recalled
your kindnesses to her, which I shall ever remember with gratitude and
friendship. I can assure you with truth, they had made an indelible
impression on her mind, and that to the last, on our meetings after long
separations, whether I had heard lately of you, and how you did, were
among the earliest of her inquiries. In giving you this assurance, I
perform a sacred duty for her, and, at the same time, am thankful for
the occasion furnished me, of expressing my regret that circumstances
should have arisen, which have seemed to draw a line of separation
between us. The friendship with which you honored me has ever been
valued, and fully reciprocated; and although events have been passing
which might be trying to some minds, I never believed yours to be
of that kind, nor felt that my own was. Neither my estimate of your
character, nor the esteem founded in that, has ever been lessened for a