Letter 1 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Original not in collection]
Ipswich [Massachusetts], Jan. 17. 1834
Dear brother Daniel,
You will not think that I address you because I am so much indebted to you for yr [your] oft repeated communications. I think you never wrote me a word. -- I hope a year from this time I cannot say this in truth. I wish to know much about you, write me in what things you think you have made some improvement the past year, & in what you hope to improve this year. Let me know something about your religious state. Are your Sabbaths profitable & delightful. God makes use often of the humblest instruments to build up his cause, & brother D. [Daniel] we may aim at being instrumental in doing this. The members of our school [Ipswich Female Seminary] who hope they are Christians meet every Sab. [Sabbath] & spend [...] hours in prayer, & hearing instructions from Aunt [Zilpah Polly Grant Banister]. Our subject to day was suited to lead us to prepare our heart for a visit from the Holy Spirit, & to put away every iniquity. These are very precious meetings. It was remarked that we were in danger of saying our prayers, instead of praying. I felt it to even so. Do not neglect secret prayers one day, dear christian brother, you will thus bring darkness, distress & leanness into your soul. And will you not seek to pray <that> whenever others lead in the church, & in the social circle, & in the family. Let your heart rise in each petition, or strive for it. But if your thoughts should wander, join heartily in the amen.
I received a letter from sister E. [Elizabeth] two days since. She wrote in very good spirits, I think, says her school far exceeds her anticipations. Miss Bridges has given up the primary department & assists E. [Elizabeth] They have 40 young ladies. She says some of them are ornaments to <any> the school & do as well as they can. She has changed her boarding place. She now boards with 18 or 20 of the young ladies. Their friends provided food, & the young ladies prepare it for the table. They have a matron to keep their fires, & attend a little to their dinner. She is pleased with the plan thus far. Her scholars have been studying Colburn’s & Adams’s Arith. Nat. & Mental <Moral> Phi. & Watts. reading chirography & spelling & composition. She writes so seldom. I thought perhaps you might not know these things. She mentions that the first Mon. in Jan. was to be observed as a fast. Aunt [Zilpah Polly Grant Banister] approves of such boarding establishments there.
I heard thro [through] Aunt [Zilpah Polly Grant Banister] that Joel & some of my other friends had been studying Watts this winter. I was rejoiced to hear it. Elizabeth & I have been teaching it. I hope & think we must all be profited by it. I think it almost impossible to study it, without being profited. We have not yet exhausted it. I wish you to know it so thoroughly that his ideas will be at hand, whenever appropriate. What habits do you wish to eradicate what to perfect.
Yours, in love, Mary. [Mary Grant Burgess]
Letter 2 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to] Mr. Daniel Grant.
“Oh may thy future hours be given
To peace, to wisdom and to heaven,
Thy hope disdain a mortal birth,
Thy joys ascend above the earth,
Thy steps retrace the path they trod,
Thy heart be fixed alone on God.
So, when the scenes of time shall fade,
And life’s frail lamp be dark with shade,
A seraph’s voice shall soothe they breast,
And lead you where the weary rest.”
Your friend,
Caroline Burr.
Colebrook, Feb. 22, 1837.
Letter 3 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to] Mr. Daniel Grant
Care of E.P. Grant Esq.
Canton
Ohio U.S. A.
[Ahmeduaggur?], June 10, 1840.
My dear brother Daniel,
Nearly a month has passed since the Brenda, a vessel from Salem [Massachusetts], laden with ice, reached Bombay. The ice which cost the owners some 1500 dolls [dollars], immediately sold for $10,000. But I was about to tell you it brought letters, periodicals, & books to us, which truly cheered & feasted us I had heard nothing directly from my relatives for 14 months previous. I had two full letters from Joel, a part of one being written by mother, & among other items I learned that you were in Ohio upon a farm near brother Phelps. I was, as far as I could perceive, glad to hear it though knowing so little of circumstances, I ought not to have a decided opinion. But in that land of enterprise, & improvement & progress if you take a right stand you will be respected & useful [...] have a pretty good foundation for an education, I mean you are somewhat thoroughly grounded in the rudiments, upon this, by your reading, reflection, & intercourse with men & things you may in 20 years erect a noble superstructure, & be a first rate farmer too. Your first thoughts, after your soul, I think should be directed to the profession you have chosen. This is desirable both as to success & comfort in your labor. But dear brother, be not cast down by disappointments. Settle that point that it will not do. Be a happy man; a cheerful man. Govern yourself. Your habits have been some defective in this respect. But this must not dishearten you. Rise it is not too late, not too late for you to be all you wish. You may be as useful in your sphere as any of your brothers, though your vocation is different. Do not compare yourself & your priviliges with others to your injury remember God only requires the best improvement of the talents with which he intrusts us. You will meet all sorts of society, but I feel confidence that you will be found in the ranks of the virtuous. I feel that you will be where you can have access to good books. You should not work all the time, but you must continually be industrious. You should probably read some, besides devotional reading every day. Besides keeping accounts straight I would recommend your writing a little every day perhaps in a diary, something which you read, or some fact you would like to retain or practice upon drawn from conversation or observation. Watts on the Mind would be a good book for you to read with care. Phelps will help you to standard works which read principally I think, but you will not read many volumes a year, yet by having a system, you will treasure up much that will be valuable, & tend to make you happy. Improvements & arrangements upon the little spot made more green & lovely by your labor, will constantly tax your judgment, & the works of God, <will often> as manifested in the vegetable world, will often attract your notice, & raise your heart in admiration & love. Yours is a noble employment, & is every where considered so. Aim to have a plan, a system, & though often unavoidably [...] to deviate, yet do not give up. Consider your habits, perfect the good, correct the bad, & create the wanting. Be cleanly in your person, do not neglect the frequent use of water upon the whole system. Be temperate in diet & especially be virtuous in every particular, yes, be chaste, every where, alone & in company in thought, speech & manner. Be a Christian example. One point more, important though delicate. You will need ere long to select a bosom partner. O what circumspection, & what guidance from on highs you require here. Make this an important part of your intercession before God. Your usefulness & your all will be affected by this step. So do not be hasty, make yourself worthy of one of the excellent of the earth, not the rich, but one of the sensible, healthy, & virtuous daughters of new Eng [New England] I would say -- yet I would not choose for you. I think some of your New Eng. [New England] acquaintances would make you happy. In training your own habits, one motive may be, to make yourself what you should be as the head of a family But dear brother, from my interest in you, I have written thus much, it is for your own eye, & for your own good. Keep near to God. Aim to do every one good. Remember the Sab. [Sabbath] & the Bible & closet. I wish you to write me particulars about yourself. brother Phelp’s family and all.
Aff. [Affectionately]
M. Burgess [Mary Grant Burgess]
We are interested in our work, & happy [...] I feel that we have a wide field, & need the prayers of those who seek the extension [...] Christ’s kingdom at home. Mr Burgess is devoted to his work. It is a hard field, but we have encouragement to work on, Mr. B. [Burgess] has just commenced a school for teaching Eng. [English] & we are hoping it will be useful to the people. I will tell you more of our work next time. Do you see the Recorder’s that contain Mr. B’s [Burgess] letters. My very kind regards to each of the cousin Griswolds & their wives. also to Mr. [Golding?] & any others, who I should remember.
Truly yours.
M.B. [Mary Grant Burgess]
Dear Brothers, Phelps & Daniel, & Sister Susan,
Through brother Joel & mother I learned respecting your return to Ohio, & your visit in Ct. [Connecticut] I am glad too to hear so favorable an account of that little niece. I would like well to make her acquaintance. I wish to hear from you as particularly as you can afford to write. I have written one letter home since we commenced keeping house last Nov. but as you have not probably seen that <probably> I will introduce you to our pleasant home. And that you may get a clearer idea even from an imperfect sketch. I will draw the city with a pencil at one corner. It is not a square, but it is longer from east to west than from N. to S. It is surrounded by a mud wall, 18 or 20 feet. This wall is kept in a good state of repair. The city is entered by 11 or 13 gates. I forget which, some of these two or three entrances are not for carriages. Pop. [Population] of the city is 23,000, the majority of whom are miserably poor, & degraded. <No. 1> Fig 1. represents the location of our house just outside the N.W. gate of the *
[As best representation -- perhaps not entirely to scale, see original if necessary] *city Fig 2. the house Mr. French now occupies. He has lived with Mr. Abbot till this week. I value having them so near. Fig. 3. Mr. Ballantine’s place. It is situated in the center of the city, but it is high & airy. The female boarding school is in the yard. Fig 4. is Mr. Abbott’s place a full mile from us. In his yard is the boys boarding school. The chapel too is there. It is the only spot owned by the mission in Nuggur, & is in the S.E. part of the city. Fig 5 represents the fort, & the sixes the cantonments of Eng [English] residents. A few of the Eng. [English] call on us & many are friendly.
We are about 170 miles E. from Bombay the intervening road is good a government road. The mail leaves for Bombay every P.M. & arrives here from there every morn, requiring two days in passage. Postage is cheap is determined by weight, so that I have been telling my Amer. [American] friends that when convenient, write on thin paper. Our upper rooms are peculiarly pleasant composed of a sleeping & bathing room, & Mr. B’s [Burgess] study. In front is a verandah where I often walk at eve for the fresh air. We have a thick cotton carpet on the study which cost about seven dollars. Here is Mr. B’s [Burgess] library which consists of about 500 volumes, & I assure you we have no want of good reading (There is besides here a mission library.) a desk & table & about three chairs constitute the remaining furniture. Here we spend our evenings when we have no company. My room & our sleeping apartment has a much cheaper kind of carpet a wash hand table a towel rack, a dressing table, a bed, a wardrobe & some trunks, & a chest. It is of good size & is airy.
Our bathing room is one of our choicest luxuries, & we are not sparing in frequenting it. During the hot season which is now giving way to the rainy season, it has been to us invaluable. From the first of April to June 1 the thermometer (excepting two days when it stood at 99 [degrees]) has risen to above 100 [degrees] in the shade, (open air) -- quite a number of days it has risen to 105, 106 & 107, -- yet by keeping rooms shut, & by frequent bathing, in general, we have not suffered much from heat. Yet there is a [languos?] which unfits one for rigorous action, & is one of the trials of missionary life in India. Below is a parlor, breakfast room a small room, which I call mine, & a dispense room answering to a pantry at home also a room which I use for storing away things. None of these rooms are remarkable, they are generally convenient. The house is very old, but it is comfortable a part of it, is of stone, & part of mud brick. In my parlor I have a ding table, a pretty table, a couch sofa like, & about 9 chairs. We brought a rocking chair from America & Mr. B. [Burgess] purchased another in Bombay of the Capt. of our vessel. So we have each of us one, one we keep above the other below. My furniture is respectable better than I expected. Indeed I wish you to think of us as happy. As for eatables, we do not get much variety, though we have many good things . Eggs are abundant & cheap, much more than fowls, Beef & mutton are good, particularly the latter. Sweet potatoes & onions are our principal vegetables for cooking Rice is an important article of diet. We also get good wheat bread from the baker, & I often make it myself. I have my butter made in the house, every morning. Fresh fruit may be had almost every day, some of which is very fine & would be so rare in America that we often wish we could get some to you. -- I forgot to mention that our house is surrounded by pretty gardens. It has rose bushes, just arrived, artemisia, a species of hyacinth, & many other pretty flowering plants. It is shaded too by the Tamarind the Pride of India, the gum Arabic tree, the mulberry the [pineful?] pimpuree sandal wood, & several other trees whose names it would be difficult for me to write in Eng. [English] I often walk in the garden, & botarize some have pressed some hundred specimens. Next vessel I shall see a letter from you, I think. Any letter you know as posted in N.Y. [New York] will finally reach us.
Aff. [Affectionate] your sister
M. Burgess [Mary Grant Burgess]
Letter 4 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to] Mr. Daniel Grant
Mill Brook
Litchfield Co.
Conn. [Connecticut]
Piketon Ohio Sept 24, 1842
Dear Brother,
As I have now been rather more than a fortnight from home, I presume you feel anxious to hear from me. Cousin Wm. [William] and I arrived at Conneaunt, about eight miles from Kingsville, Saturday morning Sept. 10, from which place we were carried by Mr. Hall, one of Williams’ friends, to Kingsville. We called at Niagara falls, where we spent nine hours in viewing the wonders of the place which are truly astonishing, but nothing worth worrying to see. At Kingsville I visited Uncle Calvin’s family, [Aurin?] Wakefield’s, Nathan Wakefield’s, Harvey Nettleton’s, Alpha Nettleton’s, Roger Nettleton’s, Cousin Milton’s, Cousin Barnard’s and a Mr. Newton’s who married a daughter of Roger Nettleton, but whose wife is now dead. I staid at Kingsville till Wednesday morning Sept, 14, when in William’s company I started for Vienna, where Mr. Chamberlain who married Mary Ann Cowles lives. On our way we passed through Hartford, where Esquire Beebee and his son Dr. Beebee live, and with them we passed the night very pleasantly. Thursday morning we went to Vienna where cousin Mw. staid till after dinner, and I till the next morning. William, who brought me in his father’s waggon, came partly to bring me, partly to see <Mar> Mrs. Chamberlain and partly to visit some relations who live in a neighboring town. He returned the next day, and will probably reach home before you receive this.
From Vienna Mr. Chamberlain carried me to Warren, the county Seat of Trumbull Co., from whence I hoped to be able to find my way somewhere by means of a stage, as a vehicle of that kind visits Vienna only, once a week. We arrived at Vienna Friday forenoon, and I found that no stages were to leave in any direction which I wished to go before Monday morning. However as that day there was a Whig “Mass meeting” at Warren, at which “[Tom?] Corwin” the Governor of Ohio was to mount the stump, I concluded to be as patient as possible and make the most of my forced stay. I managed to occupy the time during the day pretty well, and at night I left word with the collector of the canal to send for me if any boat should come along, going to Akron. Accordingly about one o’clock I was called up, and took passage on a [line?] boat (on that canal they have no others) which, whatever other good qualities it might have, -- deserved no commendation for its speed. The Captain said he had about 55 tons of wheat on board and for all that load he had but two horses. However we moved along at a snails pace and about 6 o’clock Sunday morning I arrived at Akron which is about 45 miles from Warren. Here I spent the Sabbath very pleasantly with the family of Sidney Bass, and on Monday started for Canton. I found brother Phelps had gone to Court and therefore concluded to come here, as soon as on my return, I left Canton Tuesday morning and visited Wyllys Griswold, and at three o’clock in the afternoon took the packet, and about one o’clock Thursday night reached Waverly from whence I came here on foot yesterday.
Brother Phelps and family are well. They have a daughter three weeks old who is healthy, and Susan is so smart as to sit up a great part of the day. She is very cheerful and is doing well. Dr. Whiting with Mrs. Whiting and his brother Julius made a visit there the evening I arrived. They are all well.
Mr. Burton’s family are also well Sister’s eyes are better, though far from sound, and her children, Mary and Philander are doing well. Philander walks as well as any one, and talks very well also. Sister says they find a farm more agreeable than their former mode of life, although rather more laborious.
I found Mr. Bass’ family well. Mrs. Bass appears to be a very amiable, pleasant woman, and all the family are cheerful and happy. They have only one child which is but a few months old. A sister of Mrs. Bass was in the family when I was there.
I suppose you are anxious to know how I get along in looking up a place To this I can at present only answer that I have not yet satisfied myself. I have seen places, however which I think are better suited to you both in price and quality than any that I know of at the east, but before buying them I have concluded to go to Wisconsin. There is plenty of good land in Ohio, but the fact that it is held at a price rather above its value cannot be denied. This is not, however, more the case here than at the east, but all things considered I believe it best for you to go to Wisconsin. All accounts agree in representing it as a delightful country which is at least as healthy as New England. On board the packet I met an individual who <has> is a surgeon in U.S. Army, and who has been stationed in various parts of Wisconsin and Iowa, and has travelled in all parts of them. From his [description?] I judge the prairies of Wisconsin to be something like the pampas of the Rio de la Plata in their fertility and dry healthy air. Mr. Burton tells me that he has seen some persons from there who complain in the same manner Eastern people do of the damp chilly nights of Ohio. By the way these nights are horrid. I no longer wonder that people are sick with agues, or that constitutions are undermined by the great changes which take place between noon and midnight. It is without exception the worst climate I ever saw if the few days I have been here are a fair specimen.
It is no great undertaking to go to Wisconsin not so much as to go to Piketon, or at most, very little more. From Buffalo the passage is from four to six days, cabin passage $16 deck passage $10 to Chicago which is 70 miles beyond Milwaukee. But if I do not find better places there than here, I shall return to Ohio, or Indiana or Illinois.
I shall start day after tomorrow (Monday) on my return <from whenc> to Brother Phelps, from whence I shall go to cousin Harvey Grants and endeavor to call on Wm. Swift, and then to Cleveland from whence I shall start for Wisconsin I will write again from Cleveland.
Your affectionate brother
Joel Grant.
If you would like to write me any thing, I presume you can do it by directing to Cleveland. I do not think I shall leave there before Monday Oct. 10, and if you can mail a letter by Oct. 3 I shall doubtless receive it.
Letter 5 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to] Mr. Daniel Grant
Mill Brook
Litchfield Co
Conn. [Connecticut]
Steam Boat Chesapeake
Oct. 13, 1842.
Dear Brother,
I am at last on my way to Wisconsin, after waiting two days at Cleveland for a boat. I received your letter yesterday, and should have answered it from Cleveland if I had not thought it better policy to wait so as to inform you of my safe arrival in Wisconsin, if I ever get there, and so I merely sent a newspaper from Cleveland. I staid at Elizabeth’s from Friday afternoon till Monday afternoon and from Piketon went to Circleville, where I visited Frederic Brown’s family. From thence I went to Blendon 12 miles north of Columbus, where Mr. Gillespie’s family reside, and there I staid one day. From thence I went to Canton, where I staid from Saturday night till the next Tuesday. thence I went to Oberlin, Wellington, and Penfield, where I found that Mr. Swift was absent in Pennsylvania and would not return for several weeks, and of course the note is not yet paid. I returned to Oberlin and from thence <to> came to Cleveland, Oct. 10, about 4 P.M. but as no boat left, for Chicago till to day I found I might as well have waited in Oberlin two days longer. The particulars of my journey I omit for the present.
I have a small room to myself on board the boat, and if we do not blow up or burn up, I shall pass the four, or five days, pleasantly as I have no fear of winds. The engine, however jars the boat a great deal, so that it is a little difficult to write, so difficult indeed, that I presume many people would suppose it impossible. The boat is one of 750 tons with very good accommodations. We have all sorts of passengers and a good many of each sort. There are a great many emigrants to Wisconsin among the rest. The weather is very fine now, but it would be surprising if it should continue so all the passage. Should the wind arise we shall have some delicious specimens of sea sickness beyond doubt,
Oct 14. Weather still fair. We reached Detroit about 9 o’clock last night, and left considerable portion of our passengers there, 120 I believe. To day about 2 o’clock we entered Lake Huron. I have become partially acquainted to day with a Mr. Hathaway who has resided in Wisconsin ever since 1833 and has been extensively employed as a surveyor of the public lands. He adds his testimony to that of others with whom I have conversed concerning the fertility, healthiness, and convenience of the country, and I have sanguine hopes of being able to procure a good place there. Now is the time to buy in Wisconsin. If the tide of emigration should flow there for five years as it has during the last summer, lands will be as high in proportion to their value as they are in Ohio. Our boat has 10 families going there besides a large number of young men who have no families. They are from New England, New-York and Ohio, and in general will make good settlers. We have also two farmers on board who moved to Wisconsin three years since and have been this summer on a visit to the east and from them I have learned many interesting particulars. Their representations of the number of emigrants are truly astonishing.
Oct. 15. To day the weather has been rather cold, and the north west wind quite too strong to permit us to get along much. At about 11 o’clock we stopped at a gloomy place called Presqu’ Isle to take in wood. This is the only place we have stopped at since yesterday afternoon. On leaving this place the wind sprung up right ahead and raised such a sea that many passengers are sick, and we cannot advance more than four miles an hour. From Prequ’ Isle to Mackinaw is 75 miles, nearly N.W. Prequ’ Isle has no inhabitants except a light house keeper, and those individuals who prepare wood for the steam boats.
Oct. 16. We reached Mackinaw about midnight last night, and have been to day in Lake Michigan. The weather is cold, but not unpleasant and if nothing happens we shall reach Milwaukie to-morrow morning.
Oct. 17. About 7 o’clock to day we came in sight of Milwaukie, and about half past eight we brought our boat as near as possible to town. The harbor is not good, the depth of water on the bar being only from 2 to 3 feet. A small steam boat towing two large flat bottomed scows, came out after a considerable time and took us to town while the other boat pursued its way to Chicago which is distant 90 miles. The delay occasioned by the badness of the harbor was so great that it was nearly noon before we reached town.
I have here two class-mates who are settled, one as a lawyer the other as a physician. Milwaukie is a place which appears very flourishing notwithstanding the hard times which have affected other places. One of which my class mates tells me that during the past summer above 200 houses have been erected. The place appears now about the size of Canton. The people here think that a few thousand dollars will make their harbor a very good one, and I see no reason to doubt it. After passing the bar there is waters enough, and I presume that ere long perhaps the very next session, Congress will make appropriations which if well applied will make the harbor a good one.
One of Harvey Grant’s boys lives at Prairie Village about 20 miles west of here, and I intend to go to see him to-morrow.
Wheat is carried from Milwaukie to Buffalo for 10 cts a bushel and flour for 37 1/2 cts a barrel, circumstances which make a farm near Milwaukie better situated in respect to market than most parts of the state of Ohio.
I shall not be able to decide, whether you had better come here this fall in season to let you know; so you had better conclude to stay <at> in Conn. this winter. Try to employ your time so as to raise a little money; even a little may be of great use to you.
I think I shall not write again before I return, unless I find occasion to stay longer than I now anticipate. If I remain here more than a fortnight or longer than till Nov. 2 I will write but should I not I shall not write. My present intention is to get home Nov. 10.
Your affectionate brother
Joel Grant
Evening of Oct. 17. It rains now quite hard and promises to rain to-morrow. The air is cold and chilly -- a fire is almost necessary. My health is good although within the last day, or two I have taken a cold -- the first one since I came to the U.S.
Letter 6 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to] Mr. Daniel Grant
Mill Brook
Litchfield Co.
Conn. [Connecticut]
Andover Theo. Sem. [Andover Theological Seminary] March 1, ‘43
Dear Brother,
If I have rightly made the calculation you close your school day after to-morrow, as that will make four months from Nov. 14, 1842. I have not written to you previous to this time because I knew not when you would be at home, nor where to direct a letter to you, away from home. I have however been a little disappointed that I have not received a letter from you, though I doubt not you have many very good excuses to offer, such as pressure of business residing among those mountaineers, &c., so that after all I suppose I must let the matter pass.
Our vacation commences Wednesday April 19, seven weeks from to day. At that time I hope to have an opportunity to see you. In the mean time, I hope you will do all that you can to get ready for your journey to the West, which you ought to begin as soon after navigation opens as possible. Some weeks since I received a letter from Levi Grant in which he states that chairs and all kinds of furniture are about the same price as in Ohio. Respecting cloth, [...] yarn, &c, he says that they are in [great?] demand than in Conn. [Connecticut] He says that apple and pear trees are articles that command a good price but I presume the season of the year in which you go will be unfavorable to the transportation of them. He says also that he has an excellent two horse waggon which he thinks will answer for both you and him for the present. He did not write particularly about the house, I presume because he had not at that time proceeded for enough with it to say much. I suppose that all he can do this winter will be to get the logs prepared, as when he received my letter, snow had fallen to a considerable amount. He says “the winter is delightful, the sleighing good, and no drifts at all.” This however was under date of Dec. 17.
I think you would do well to take on as many of those things which you will want as you can, for even if the price should not be more there, than here, there is some advantage in having things by you and in not having to look them up among a crowd of [sharpers?], who will use every art to cheat you. At the very highest calculation you can get things carried from Albany to <Chic> Milwaukie for $2 a hundred by the steamboats on the lakes, and for $1.50 by vessels, and I have little doubt but you can get them carried for less, for this I believe to be the maximum. You can also be carried for $25 a person from Albany to Milwaukie, with a cabin passage in the steam boats on the lakes, and your board found you all the way. This much I regard as certain, I hope you will be able to go for less.
To day a company of Missionaries has sailed from Boston to Persia and labor among the Nestorians. They are eight in number viz. Mr. Perkins, Mr. Bliss, Mr. Stoddard, and their wives, and Miss Myers, and Miss Fiske who has been until recently at S. Hadley as a teacher [at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary]. Mr. Stoddard was a classmate of mine in College and for a year or two past a tutor in Yale College. He is a most excellent man as well as an accomplished scholar. These missionaries were all here last Sabbath, and received their instructions Sabbath evening. The Bishop, Mar Johannan returns with them. Mr. Perkins who has been connected with that mission eight years has published an account of his labors there which is full of interest. The Nestorians, as a people who, amid the oppression of the Mohammedans and the attacks of the Pope have kept the <flame> form, and to some extent the power of Christianity, so long, demand our sympathy and our prayers.
During the latter part of Jan. I visited Aunt Banister. She was usually well but the eldest daughter Frances was considered unwell with some disease which has long been upon her. Since that time I have heard that she is worse, and the physycians have told her she cannot recover. She is however resigned to the will of God and says “If God has more for me to do he can raise me from my low estate, if not I am willing to depart.” She is of a very cheerful and happy disposition and when well has a most excellent talent for entertaining company, a talent in which she as much excels as her younger sister appears to be deficient.
Your affectionate brother
Joel Grant.
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