wish you would tell me whether you find anything of interest in
them; also whether you would like to have the Argus sometimes.
Adieu for the present, my dear mother,

Your affectionate son,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

. . .

August 6th, 1859.

MY DEAR MOTHER,

You see I have sent you the News Letter for this month, with a
long account of an unfortunate shipwreck that happened on the coast
last month. It is a wonder how those passengers that were saved
managed to exist so long without food. The only reasonable
explanation that has been offered is, that as they were continually
wet, from the sea breaking over them, a large quantity of moisture
must have been absorbed by the skin, otherwise they could never
have lived so long without fresh water. It must have been an
awkward situation to be in. I fancy I would rather have been
drowned at once; but it is not easy to judge how we should feel
under the circumstances, unless we had tried it. As Pope says,
'Hope springs eternal in the human breast; man never is,' etc. (of
course you know the rest). It strikes me that the height of
happiness is, to hope everything and expect nothing, because you
have all the satisfaction of hope, and if you get nothing you are
not disappointed; but if you obtain what you want, you are