William Audley Couper papers

were so considerate - so kind - Oh! how much better could I have remained there until my final departure from the North. She bids me tell you - how much she sympathises with you - She lost her only child - & tho' he was but 6 weeks old - he was her all. Rest assured my children that God! does not willingly afflict the children or me - This affliction grievous as it is, is sent in mercy & loving kindness - to her or to us - Let us look beyond to grave - let us picture to ourselves that babe a bright angel in Heaven - Let us give our hearts to God! Let us believe in the merits of our Saviour Savior. Oh! how much he suffered for us! than think of his life of trial & his agonizing death - Oh! that I could speak words of comfort to you. Ours is the common lot of man. Look around - & you will see how few have raised large families without losing any It is true some have - but yet these must all die We cannot live forever. Sooner or later all must die. How blest are those who die young & sinless - We cling to the lives of our children. We would keep them with us, forgetting that God! knows best for them - "Thou alone knowest what is good for us - Thou art God! of all; do therefore what seemeth thou best; Give to us, or take from us. Conform our will to thine; and grant that with humble and perfect submission and in holy confidence we may be disposed to receive the orders of thy eternal providence;" ---------------------------------------------------

In one week from tomorrow we will turn our faces homeward - That home I left in distress - that home I shall return to in far deeper sorrow than I have felt for near twenty years - How merciful God! has been to spare me so long. Oh! my child - my child - let us

try to be resigned. How I dread yet long for our reunion

It will be a hard trial for both of us - We must each try to comfort & sustain the other. I believe I informed you that we have taken passage in the Alabama on the 30^th / Oh! that I had left with Amanda on the 29^th / I will write to you again next week --- Your Aunt & Uncle sail tomorrow in the Black Warrior She is now with us & sends much love to you my Tootee

Tomorrow evening Lord will take Florence & Appy to Philadelphia - it is a whim of Florence's, she is so anxious to see Miss Picot once more. Indulge them barely because they may never again visit the North. Your sisters & brothers unite in tender love to you & our dear William Kiss the dear children for us - My own dear children may God! bless & comfort you is the constant prayer of your devoted Mother

[signed] AM King

[hand-printed in pencil, left of center] Mrs. William A. Couper

[center] New York [top right] 24^th October 1852

My dearly beloved children

Since Amandas [sic] letter of the 12^th I have received no tidings of you. They try to persuade me that my change [of] residence is a sufficient reason - but Oh! my children I have so great a dread that sickness or further loss may be the cause. If I who was far away from that heart-rending scene suffer so much - how much more must you & dear William feel. Let me but hope that it is only the pain of writing which keeps me in ignorance of your condition. What a sudden (- & as sad as sudden) the stop put to your dear letters. My own my devoted child - what pains you took to cheer your poor Mother when I had no real cause for unhappiness - I write to you as a relief to my own over [?] heart. I know it is wrong for me to grieve thus, & yet I cannot help it - Yesterday M^r & Mrs Hall called Oh! Tootee how much they feel for you & dear William - an hour or two after they left he returned bringing me two books from his wife - in one is the prayer I now copy for your comfort "Almighty God! Thou doest thy pleasure among the hosts of Heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay thine hand, for blessed be thy name: we know that it is never stretched out but in Mercy. We would not question thy ways, for righteous art Thou in all thy ways, holy in all thy works. O may our confidence in Thee stand every trial! We appear before Thee now with hearts bowed down with sorrow. The child that Thou gavest us, the delight of our eyes, the joy of our hearts, - Thou hast taken away, and this infant blossom hath wither'd

at sunrise. O Thou comforter of the afflicted, be nigh unto us, and let faith and hope, the blessed tokens of thy presence fill our hearts. In faith would we follow this departed child in its ascending flight The tie which bound it to us is broken, but it can never can be separated from Thee. (Oh! blessed thought) We called it ours, but it was thine, and to Thee it was it united far more intimately than to us. It was sent hither in accordance with the will of Him who doeth nothing in vain, and by the same wise will it is summoned hence. Help us to recognise it as the sacred property of God, as it were an Angel alighting among us for a little while upon a mission of love. May we rejoice, with a joy deep beyond utterance, at the thought of that goodness which lent us this precious treasure to gladden our hearts, altho [sic] but for a brief space. A messenger from heaven has been here. May the heavenly tidings which it brought be graven on our inmost souls, not to be erased by the grief of the present hour, but deepen'd by the tears which we shed. Sanctify the memory of this beloved child, and may it prove a fountain of blessed and saving thoughts. May that other world which thy gospel hath unveiled rise before our imagination in new brightness as the home of our beloved. O may we hence forth be more earnest in the great work of life. May we strive more diligently to prepare ourselves for communion and fellowship with the pure and blessed in thine everlasting Kingdom. Almighty God, what shadows we are? What is our life? We suffer and we enjoy It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while and then it vanishes away. We take a few steps in life. We suffer, and we enjoy, and then we disappear from the face of the earth forever. But blessed be God! we are not wholly dust. There is a spirit within us which can never taste death,

and which, by all the changes of life Thou art calling, as by so many voices from heaven, to glory, honour and immortality. Thou art speaking to us now by this event which hath filled our souls with sadness. Speak on, O Lord, for thy servants hear. Hearkening to the warning voice, let us not indulge in idle sorrow, but may we arise and gird up our loins and resolve to use diligently every moment of our sojourn on earth, seeing that we know not what an hour may bring forth, and that now is the accepted time, now the gates of salvation stand open before us, and we may enter into life eternal. O Thou God of parents and children! Since we may be so soon and suddenly separated, quicken us in the discharge of our duties one toward another. When we are called to part, save us then from the anguish of bitter remembrances, from painful recollections of unkind words and unfeeling neglects. Let the thought of the parting hour rise before us to check every evil disposition, to allay our rising anger, to quench all unhallowed heats [sic]. May every day bind us more and more together closely together. And when we go, one after another, to the narrow house appointed for all living, O may immortal hopes sanctify our departure! Thou wilt watch over our slumbering dust, and not one of us shall be forgotten before Thee. Thou wilt welcome us to a higher sphere, where we shall behold the good the and just that have gone before us, and our joy shall know no interruption and no end. O fulfill our holy desires! Inspire our hearts! Guard & guide us now & forever & to Thee shall be rendered everlasting praises - Amen. ["] Is not this a comforting prayer? & here my beloved children is a passage from the other book "Christian consolations". We have consigned the outer art form which was the delight of our eyes

eyes, to a sleep from which there is no awakening - But that which knew and loved and hoped, is with God! not a bright trait of character dimmed, not a pure desire ungratified, not a bud of promise blighted, no change passing over her, but that from stage to stage of progress and joy. She was taken away in infancy, ere blight of sin or grief had fallen upon her young spirit - just as she is near the Good Shepherds [sic] heart. Yield her up to Him, my friends, as trustingly as if He was here on earth and asked you for her and proffered her His teaching and His guidance. How gladly would you welcome Him, when He [did come] here into your family and carry forth your little ones as He passed by the way, that His shadow might rest on them and that the words of love, overheard and unforgotten, might sink deep into their hearts! Where He gathering, as once in Galilee [sic], His little company of faithful followers, and did He enter your homes, and say of those that cluster around your alters [sic], - "Suffer them to come unto me," could you keep them back? Would you not thankfully surrender them to His care & let Him guide and bless them in His own way, and in His own unceasing presence? He has done yet more for those who have been gathered into His Heavenly flock. He has taught them to bear part in the anthem of the redeemed. He has filled their minds with truth and their hearts with love. He has led my William & your Isabel in the spotless robe of infancy to the God! that gave them, and they are, without fault before his throne. We love them & must rejoice. Would we crave them back, yet more to suffer and again to die - ? perhaps still worse, to be living and yet dead, to stumble into the pit-falls of sin and at length to carry to the judgement seat marred and blacken'd, those spirits those spirits which they have now rendered back pure as they came into the world? Mysteries, deep and unfathomable, will hang over the course of Providence our way will lie through gathering clouds. But in death will the great voice from Heaven say to us "Come up hither" and with angels and ransomed men, with patriarchs, prophets and apostles, with sainted parents, our bosom friends

[center] 5 [written in pencil, top right] [24 Oct 1852]

and the lambs without spot or blemish, translated from our flocks to the service of the Heavenly alter [sic], we shall stand on the sea of grass - having the harps of God, and chanting the praises of Him who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light." If it please God! that I return to you we will read together the sweet consolations given in this book. How very kind of dear Mrs Hall to send them to me. He said he would have gone hundreds of miles to see William - They were in Ohio - when William was in New York. They are devoting themselves to our comfort. They take us to Jones' Wood tomorrow. There my children I will see the graves of thousands - many of these the graves of children. Death spares none - The Great & small - all all must die. Daniel Webster expired this morning. We know not when our hour will come. I may go before you or you may leave me here to sorrow for my first born. Let us waste no more time - tomorrow may be too late for you or for me.

I have not heard from Malley or Floyd for near two weeks. Lord & his sisters got back from Philadelphia tonight - he will go to New Haven tomorrow to bring Mall & Floyd here. I write this tonight - to go tomorrow. Georgia has been writing to you. They are unite[d] in love - love tender & warm to yourselves - Kiss my precious ones for your devoted Mother AM King

[centered, written in pencil] [Mrs Wm A. Couper Frederica, St. Simons Island Ga.]

[right of page] San Francisco Cal: Oct. 29^th 1852. -

My own dearest Sister

The last mail brough [sic] your letter to Father dated "Sep 2^nd" But as he was out of town, I read it - so having had that pleasure - I think it is as little as I can do to answer it. Especially as F^r has not yet returned - & will not do so in time to write to any of you by this mail - He has gone to "wind up" our investments in this country previous to our departure - I received a letter from him this morning - he is quite well and enjoying his freedom very much - it is the first he has experienced for two years ~

The Collector ship of this Port is attended with more trouble and risk than any other in the world - The [peops?] are made up of young and inexperienced Americans, & all the Foreign scoundrals [sic] that who have been driven from all other places in the world ~

I am truly glad to hear of the improvements in Mrs Gales [sic] helth [sic]. - In your letter to Father you speak of M^r Gould's being in a dying state. Mothers [sic] letter brought the news of his death - poor old Gentleman, -- he was the last of the old Stock. --

Hell. - this letter is not much I will admit - But you must remember it is in answer to one that was not written to me -

Please my dear Sister give my best love to your good Husband and sweet little children. Kiss my dear little Anna sweetly for me - And believe me my own

[top right] San Francisco Cal: Nov: 30^th 1852 ~

My own dearest Sister

By the last mail our Mother informed me of the great calamity which has befallen us all - tutching [sic] your dear self so nerely [sic] - You can better emagine [sic] - by the nere [sic] and dear love - which has ever existed between us - than I can express on this cold paper - the deep deep grief I feel for the loss of our little pet - and oh! how much do I feel for you my own best loved and deeply afflicted Sister It is the heavyest [sic] blow we have ever had come upon us - for we were too young to feel th it's [sic] fullest extent the death of our brother William. - My Sister I am not good. I would to God I were/ But as heavily as this sorrow falls upon