regular yet rapid a progress, that in a few days
all hopes of
his recovery were at an end. Through
the whole, his mind was preserved calm
and se-
rene, and, when sensible that the closing period
of time was
at band, he requested that his
domestics might be called into the room.
These
consisted of two white servants, two Negro
boys, and a little
orphan girl, whose mother had
been many years a nurse in the family, out
of
respect to whom, he supported and educated the
child. The mind may
conceive the situation
and feelings of this little group, yet I am ready
to
believe it is impossible for the pen to describe it.
After a short
but awful pause, he addressed each
of them in the language and accents of a
father;
for indeed as a parent he had always conducted
himself towards
them. Having communicated to
them counsel and advice suited to their
several
sizes and condition, he gently turned his face
from them, and
quietly resigned himself, and left the
world without a sigh or struggle; a
bright example
of faithfulness to his Divine Master, and a more
intelligible exposition of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, than whole volumes
of controversy.
I continued at my
lodgings at Merion
for my return to England.
I have sometimes noticed how expert the people
of America are with the saw
and the axe, and as