almost the only idea connected with these subjects which obtrudes itself
sometimes upon my mind. Yet, though I cannot conceive how Heaven would
not be Hell without those I love, I am willing to believe that my spirit
will be fitted to its future sphere by Him with whom all things are
possible.

It seems rationally consistent with all we believe, and the little we
know, to entertain a strong hope that the affections we have cherished
here will not be left behind us, or forgotten elsewhere; but I would
give much to _believe_ this as well as to _hope_ it, and those are quite
distinct things.

Two conclusions spring from this wide waste of uncertainty; that the
more we can serve and render happy those with whom our lives are bound
up here, the better; for we may not elsewhere be allowed to minister to
them: and the less we cling to these earthly affections, the less we
grasp them as sources of personal happiness the better; as they may be
withdrawn from us, and God, whose place they too often usurp in our
souls, be the one Friend who shall supply the place of them all.

Conjecture as we may, however, upon these subjects, the general
experience of humanity is that of struggle with the _present_, the
_actual_; and could I but be satisfied with the mode in which I fulfill
my daily duties, and govern my heart and mind in their discharge, I
should feel at peace as regards all such speculations--"I'd jump the
life to come."

You speak of the unhealthy life led by the members of the bar in
Ireland, and their disregard of all the "natural laws," which yet, you
say, does not appear to affect their constitutions materially. I
presume, as far as the usual exercise of their profession goes, lawyers
must lead pretty much the same sort of life everywhere; but in this
country, everybody's habits are essentially unhealthy, and superadded to
the special bad influences of a laborious and sedentary profession, make
fearful havoc with life. The diet and the atmosphere to which most
Americans accustom themselves, are alike destructive of anything like
health. Even the men, compared with ours, are generally inactive, and
have no idea of taking regular exercise as a salutary precaution. The
absence of social enjoyment among the wealthier classes, and of cheerful
recreation among the artisan and laboring part of the population, leaves
them absorbed in a perpetual existence of care and exertion, varied only
by occasional outbursts of politica