cherished for you in your home.

And here follows a tender mother-word in reference to an early and
unrequited attachment of my father's, the fate of which may possibly
have contributed to the restlessness which sent him beyond the seas.

But, dear Tom, I believe that though the hoped for flower and fruit
have faded, yet that the plant has been strengthened and
purified.... It would be a grief to me not to believe that you
will yet be most happy in married life; and when you can make to
yourself a home I shall perhaps lose some of my restless longing
to be near you and ministering to your comfort, and sharing in
your life--if I can think of you as cheered and helped by one
who loved you as I did your own beloved father.


_Sunday, November 26._--Just a year, my son, since you left England!
But I really must not allow myself to dwell on this, and all the
thoughts it brings with it; for I found last night that the contrast
between the fulness of thought and feeling, and my own powerlessness
to express it weighed on me heavily; and not having yet quite
recovered my usual tone, I could not well bear it. So I will just
try to collect for you a few more home Memoranda, and then have
done.... Our new tenant, James Richardson, is now fairly established
at his farm, and when I went up there and saw the cradle and the
happy childish faces around the table, and the rows of oatmeal cake
hanging up, and the cheerful, active Mother going hither and
thither--now to her Dairy--now guiding the steps of the little one
that followed her about--and all the time preparing things for her
husband's return from his work at night, I could not but feel that