"I am living in my chamber, and on very close allowance. Every day to me is a day of glorious anticipations, if I am free from bodily suffering, and if my mind is free."
On another occasion he writes to the same gentleman:
"I have your letter and package; the cold of this morning will make the articles doubly acceptable to the shivering and sick poor among us. J. C.'s case is one for sympathy and relief. Engage to supply him a hundred dollars, which I will hand to you when you visit me; and tell the poor fellow to keep in good heart, for our merciful Father afflicts in love, and thus I trust that this will prove a stepping-stone to the mansions of bliss. I shall never cease to remember with interest the veterans of the A. F. Co. How are my friends B. and others of early days? Also, how is old father F.? Does he need my warm outside coat, when I get supplied with a better?
"After your call upon me a few weeks since, I went back in memory to scenes of olden times, which had an interest that you can sympathize in, and which I intended to express to you before this; but I have had one of those admonitory ill turns since, that kept me under the eye of the doctor for a number of days.
"In reviewing my beginnings in manufacturing, under your recommendation and care, almost a quarter of a century ago, I can see the men, the machines, the wheel-pit, and the speed-gauge, and especially I can see our old friend W. lying on the bottom of the pit, lamp in hand, with his best coat on, eying the wheels and cogs as an astronomer makes observations in an observatory. All these scenes are as fresh in my memory as though seen but yesterday.
"Do you remember C. B., the brother of J. and G. B.? All three of whom were business men here at the time you were, and all were unfortunate. C. tried his; hand in ----, and did not succeed there; returned to this country, and settled on a tract of land in ----, where he has been hard at work for ten years, and has maintained his family. His wife died a few months since. One after another of his family sickened, and he became somewhat straitened, and knew not what to do. He wrote to an old business friend, who was his debtor, and who had failed, had paid a part only, and was discharged thirty years ago, and who has since been prosperous. He stated his case, and asked me to say a good word for him. That person sent one half, and I sent the other half, the day before Thanksgiving. It will reach him on Monday next, and will make his eyes glisten with joy.