I have been very negligent my Dear Sister in not sooner answering your very affectionate Letter for which negligence I confess I have no substantial excuse to offer unless a little dissipation has Led to idleness I must trust to your indulgence for pardon. We had heard of the Death of Col. Smith through the medium of an American Newspaper some time before we received our Letters which only...
So long a period Should not have elapsed before I had congratulated you upon your new Character as wife and Mother if a very dangerous Sickness with wich I have been visited had not prevented. I have been chiefly confined to my bed for the last fortnight with a Lung fever which has reduced me very low. I am able now only to Sit up part of the day and have not been able to read or write untill...