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                         copied  St. Louis, Mo. Sept. 11, 1852

Dear Brother Nathan,

                 Your letter from the Atlantic shore, & a note from Marietta came last night. I was "right smart" glad to receive them. And you are in good old Marietta. Oh that I could spend a week with you there: you & Josie, Sarah & I! Could we not have some good walks? Every street has a memory for me. The rivers, the hills, the pleasant walks, the graveyard, the church, the people, speak to me of both the departed & living idol of my heart, speak to me of the joys & sufferings of the heart's idolatry. I sat idolatry, for it is nothing more nor less than that. I am a worshiper, not of the false, but of the truly beautiful & good. My soul is a great furnace of incense fire, that pours the aroma of its devotion, in the fullest luxuriance, around its single object.

Nathan, one of two things is true; I shall die or live; if I die I shall die of love, if I live, I shall live on love. My being, then, dwells in love be it dead or alive, in the flesh or the spirit. That is my present position, locality & standing. I scarcely know whether I am in the flesh or out of it. I guess in the flesh though I think of all I shall yet know some of the joys of this life. If I know them at all I shall know them in their briming & bewitching fullness. I have that in me which will enoble me to drink life's cup of joy, of rich spiritual joy, even to its dregs, where lies the strength of its distilled sweetness. Dear N. I know you will rejoice with me, when I tell you that I am every day making good progress in my spiritual life. I am growing better. It's heaven's truth & heaven be thanked. The experiences which have gone to the bottom of my soul have done

[left-hand side and top] Yes, Mrs. Grovers, is my old sweetheart of Dayton Missionary. She is a good woman-- most illy ? I am well. Prospects fair. Sarah sends love to you & Sarah. She is well & in a good ? Helen's school opens well for the fall.