Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/369



Oregon City, O. Ten, Feb. 24th, 1854.

Rev. Benjamin M. Hill,

Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc., New York.

Dear Br.:

Yours under date Dec. 5th, 1853, giving notice of the appointment of Rev. A. B. Cramb for this place, was received last mail. Should he prove adapted to this place, he must be a valuable acquisition to Oregon.

In this I have to announce both afflictive and merciful dispensations of an infinitely wise providence. God has seen fit to remove my beloved wife from a state of probation to one of ineffable bliss. At the time I last wrote you I was sorely afflicted with boils and detained, much against my inclinations, from a tour into the upper part of the Willamette Valley. On Thursday I told my wife I thought I could possibly ride, but the roads were bad, the waters high, and she persuaded me to stay till the first of the week. On Sabbath morning before we rose she told me that her stomach did not feel right. Before meeting time we consulted whether all should go to meeting, as the roads were bad and we had a mile to walk. I advised her to stay with our little son, not yet six years old. When we returned from meeting about 5 P. M., I found the table spread and, as the family came around the table, she took her seat by the fire. I asked her if she was not intending to come to tea. She replied she was quite unwell and could eat nothing. As I turned my attention particularly to her, I discovered that she was very pale. I was instantly impressed that her sickness would be attended with serious results. (I have never known her to complain of being sick until she was no longer able to sit up.) She went immediately to her bed. . . . Inflammation of the stomach and bowels progressed with a slow but deter-