early 1879

Dear Friend,

You touching suggestion... is a tender permission...

We cannot believe for each other -- thought is too sacred a despot, but I hope that God, in whatever form, is true to our friend.... Consciousness is the only home of which we now know. That sunny adverb had been enough, were it not foreclosed

When not inconvenient to your heart, please remember us, and let us help you carry it, if you grow tired. Though we are each unknown to ourself and each other, 'tis not what well conferred it, the dying soldier asks, it is only the water.

Emily