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I received a good letter from you. I am ashamed to look at the date to see how long since. I did not suppose your sojourn in Milo would be long as you mentioned an offer from New Brunswick, so I deferred answering your letter until I should hear, again, then a period of three months elapsed without a single letter from any of you. I have within a few weeks had two letters from Lucy and one from you and Mother jointly. I have seen nothing from Joseph's pen since last winter- suppose he is too weak or it fatigues him too much to use his hands. Poor dear Joseph, so ambitious, so capable, so independent, how can he bear up under his deep afflictions! How much dependence we all place upon him I am thankful that you could be with him so long, there seems a Merciful Providence in it; nothing could contribute more to his happiness to keeping his mind in good tone, and such a comfort to Mother too. How I should like to have been there too, All my feelings sympathies, I must while here, keep folded up, like the petals of a flower in the night yet I like the people here much, merely as Society, common acquaintance, any one must feel isolated without any relatives or near friends about them. I have been reading Shakespeare of late and enjoy it much, especially Lear and Hamlet, though there are objectionable sentiments as well as phrases, yet there is so much of sound sense and wisdom in his writings that they cannot be read without improvement; I have been astonished to find how many of the standard, choice expressions in common use