le,
though somewhat dry and as hard as wood, and still of them one or two
remains. The dear boys also had some pigeons: these also served us for
many days. We then had two goats for my poor dear little baby, and to
give us milk; but provisions became so dear that we were obliged to
kill one; this we divided among the poor: the second at last we also
killed, and potted in its fat. This by little and little we are
consuming. We have also got four or five hens, which lay two or three
eggs a-day. Thus the Lord has provided for us till now; and if we have
not had abundance, we have never suffered from want. And now, when
wheat and rice is not to be bought, and if possessed in quantities
would expose the possessors to inevitable pillage, the Lord has so
graciously supplied us, that we avoid both want and the danger of
possessing provisions in the house, for before the kind Taylors left
this, they gave me permission to take from the Residency whatever I
might want, and this I now take by little and little as I need, and
the house of the Resident is so far respected in public opinion, that
openly disorganized as things are, I do not think they will commit any
violence upon it.

I am sure there are many who, in reading this, will bless God for his
goodness to us, so utterly unworthy as we are; but, oh! if they could
be witnesses of the misery that others suffer, and from which his
mercies have freed us, they would indeed praise him. For, even when
provisions were to be had, had we been obliged to purchase at the
price things then were and are now, we must inevitably have run in
debt; but as it is we have enough of money for more than a month to
come. Therefore, bereaved and incapable as I yet feel of all
enjoyment, I desire to bless the Lord for all his great goodness
and care over us, of the least of whose mercies I feel infinitely
unworthy. And though my faith does not enable me fully now to feel,
in unison with my _soul's judgment_, on my heavenly Father's dealings
toward me, when time has removed the bitter cup farther distant, it
may not possess all its present intensity of bitterness, to which also
so many circumstances have tended to add additional pungency--not a
friend near, not a communication from any of those far away. I have
ever felt one abiding source of comfort, in that I knew I enjoyed the
prayers of many whose prayers I truly value, and through these I
believe I shall yet stand complete in all the will of God,