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and joyous days should be allotted to Mrs. Montgomery before the tale of life is wound up it will give unfeigned pleasure to her affectionate Humble Servt. M. Warren mwp1 1. Aside from capitalization practice, this Letterbook version differs only very slightly from the rc in the Princeton University Library. 38 to james warren [December 30, 1777] This Extream Cold season Gives me great Concern for you who can so Illy brave the severity of Winter more Especially from your own fire side where it is the study of Every one to Make you happy. Oh these painful abscences. Ten Thousand anxieties Invade my Bosom on your account & some times hold my Lids Waking Many hours of the Cold & Lonely Night. But after a day or two has succeeded such a Restless Night & No Ill tidings arrive my Restless Bosom is again hushed into peace & I can calmly hope the same providential Care which has hitherto protected will still preserve your Valuable Life; yet when I reflect how many years have Rolled over our heads we have Little Reason to Expect many more should be Added to the Tale. Will you aid me to improve the Remainder to Better purpose than the [??] yet I have aimed to keep[?] in my sight for the Good of society. I have Endeavoured unweariedly to Implant[?] the purest principles of Morallity & Virtue in the Minds of my Children but Heaven alone must Mature the seed & make it productive of such Fruits as we Wish to see in our sons. There I Leave them; if they Walk in the paths of Honour And Truth to God alone be the praise. If they are Carried away by the Torrent of passion & the Evil Example of a Corrupt World yet still I will Adore that being who if my Earthly hopes are Cut short is able to give me a Name better than that of sons or Daughters. How did you Get Through on saterday? It was very Rainy hear. I had a very sick day then but am now as usual. to james warren, december 1777  99 You will see by the package with this that I have Endeavourd to Discharge all Demands in the Literary way. I send some of them unsealed for want of Wafers. I write this in hopes some Vessel will go to Morrow by whom you will not fail to send[?] a Little Briad1 to your Ever Affectionate Marcia Warren Dec 30 10 oclock p m I this Moment hear by Wing[?]2 that the British troops are Embarked for a Winter Expedition & that Dartmouth is much Alarmed. Wherever they go may their Evil designs be Defeated & may Every Movment Hasten that peace which my soul Longs for. mwp2, rc 1. By “briad” she may mean “braid,” a commodity not easily available in wartime, or possibly “bread.” 2. The Wing family had settled in Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, in the early seventeenth century and had been in the area for several generations. We do not know the precise person to whom she refers. 39 to james warren Plimouth March 10 1778 My dearest friend I am not out of spirits. Your Harry[?] says I am not—& there is nothing he observes more or more ardently wishes than to support the spirits of his mamah. I hope this fillial principle in him will ever coincide with the virtuous dispotition [??] has bestowed to prevent his deviation from that line of conduct which can alone make him happy. But we have here the most disagreeable reports—faith, fortitude and courage are necessary to bear us up amidst the train of public evils even if the body was in health & the mind free from [??] domestic anxiety—War is like to thicken up as—Conspiring at Cambridge, Fasting[?]at Boston—[??] which it is said some very unexpected names appear though we do not yet learn who— Burgoyns troops supplyed with arms—our own army without cloaths, without provissions & without tents—many of them deserting to the 100  to james warren, march 1778 ...

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