n, and one of
the noblest young men of America.]

[FN: Miss Hoar was betrothed to Charles Emerson.]

[155] I preached to-day at Chauncey Place [FN 1]. I will copy a passage.
(I have not space to give the connection.)

"There stood once where now I stand, a father,--I knew him not, but
to some of you he was known,--who, ere his children were twined up
for life, was called to leave them, but whose fair example and fervent
prayer visited them, and dwelt among them, and helped, with much kindly
nurture, to form them to learning, virtue, honor, and to present them
to the world a goodly band of brothers. And say not, because one
and another has fallen on the threshold of life,--fallen amidst the
brightest visions and most brilliant promises of youth,--that it is
all in vain; that parental toils and cares and prayers are all in vain.
There is another life, where every exalted power trained here shall find
expansion, improvement, and felicity. [Those sons of the morning, who
stand for a moment upon the verge of this earthly horizon amidst
the first splendors of day, and then vanish away into heaven, as
if translated, not deceased, seem to teach us, almost by a sensible
manifestation, how short is the step and how natural is the passage from
earth to heaven.][FN 2] They almost open heaven to us, and they help
our languid efforts to reach it, by the most powerful of all earthly
aids,--the memory of admired and loved virtues. Yes, the mingled sorrow
and affection which have swelled many hearts among us within the last
week, tell me that the excellence we have lost has not lived in vain.
Precious memory of early [156] virtue and piety! and such memories, and
more than one such, there are among you. Hold these bright companions
ever dear, my young friends; embalm their memory in the fragrant breath
of your love; follow them with the generous emulation of virtue; let the
seal which death has set upon excellence stamp it with a character of
new sanctity and authority; let not virtue die and friendship mourn in
vain!"

[FN 1: The church formerly ministered to by the Rev. William Emerson,
the father of these rare sons.]

[FN 2: This letter is taken from a copy, not the original; and the
meaning of the brackets is uncertain. Probably, however, the passage
which they enclose is a quotation.]

Remember me with most affectionate sympathy to your mother, and Aunt
Mary, and to Dr. Ripley.

With my kind regards to your wife, I am, dea