ristianity exhibited in many
ways; and I have not kept from your view his faults and imperfections.
You have seen him as a son, and as a brother, a friend, and a husband.
As a father, you know but little of him; and now I will relate the
circumstances which led to a temporary separation from his child and
her mother, and will quote from his letters, that you may learn, from
himself, his views and desires as a father, and his manner of
intercourse with this only child of his heart.

During the winter of 1846--after we had removed from your
great-grandmamma's, and were again enjoying a home of our own--my health
gave way, to an alarming extent. Although able to go about the house,
it was evident (declared so by my physicians) that I was in a decline.
When I grew no better from the concentrated wisdom of three of the
Faculty, my husband determined to try the effect of a change of air and
scene, first having consulted the doctors as to the expediency of it,
and having been assured by them that, if it did me no good, it could do
me no harm. With his accustomed dispatch he hastened to the river,
secured our passage on a boat, which was to leave in three days, and at
dinner asked me if I would not like to take a trip to Havana? The
question startled me, for there was more business done in March and
April than in any other two months of the whole year, and I could not
see the practicability--indeed, it had previously seemed almost
impossible for him to leave home at that time. But his answer to my
exclamations of surprise--"Business is of no importance compared to
health," and the question, "Can you be ready by day after tomorrow?"
accompanied by the assurance that our state-rooms were already engaged
--put a stop to further discussion, and set my sister earnestly to work
to get me ready. "Lizzie must leave school," ("papa" said), "for she,
too, may go along to help take care of mamma"--and never was a mamma
better taken care of, with two such nurses as she had.

This arrangement acted like a charm, for I began to mend before
we started, from the effect upon my mind, in being drawn off from
myself and my ailments to the necessary thought required in giving
directions for the packing of trunks, and in making arrangements
generally for leaving home. After reaching New Orleans, we were
advised that it was too late in the season to visit Havana, and we
determined to steer our course toward Pensacola; but, upon our arrival
i