Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1882-08-03
No. 81.
MIR. GREELEY'S GREAT SORROW.
A Hitherto Unpublished letter on the
Death of his Son.

The following letter furnished the New
! York Tribune by S. S. Randall, reopens q sad
page in the life of Horace Greeley:
NEW YORK, December 1, 1919
My FRIEND:-You ask for an hour !
have but fifteen minutes vet will endeavor
to say something.
The loss OF my boy makes a great change
in my feelings, plans and prospects. The JOY
OF my life was cOmprehended in his, and |
do not now feel that any personal object can
strongly move ME henceforth. | had thought
of buying q country place, but it was for
him ! had begun to love flowers and beau
tiful objects because he loved them. Now
all That deeply concerns me is the evidence
that we shall live hereafter and especially
that we shall live with and know those we
loved here. ~ The rest seems subordinate and
trifiing. l mean to act my part while life is
spared me, but / no longer cOvet length Of
days. If felt sure on the point of indent-
flying and being with our loved ones in the
world to come, | would prefer not to live
long. As it is ] am resigned to whatever
may be divinely ordered. X
/ am not often sad, and suffer little. | feel
none of that eating away OF the heart which
atfiicts my poor wife and makes me appre-
hend that she will not live long She has
cried very little, and laid our darling in his
coffin, after thoroughly washing him. with
dry eyes. We had but few hours to prepare
for our loss. He went to bed as hearty and
happy as ever; at a. N. he wanted to get
up, but went directly back to bed, complain
ing of no sickness; a little past three he
called again, and soon the purging and vomit-
ing commenced in earnest, but we stopped
this at eight, and did not feel that he wa
in danger until about l p. M, and at he
died! His mother had bought him fiddle
the day before, which delighted him beyond
measure, and he was only induced to lay it
up at night by his delight at the idea OF
coming up in the morning and surprising me
by playing on it before | got up. In the
morning, at daylight, was called to his bed
side; the next day l followed him to his
grave! You cannot guess how golden and
lovely his long hair never cut looked in the
coffin.
We have lost four out of five children, and
have only an infant left. Our last girl was
only six months DID, the other two vert
infants. Pickle was five years old last March.
So much grace and wit and poetry were
rarely or never blended in so young child
and to US his form and features We're the
perfection of beauty We can never have
another child and life cannot be long enough
to efface, though it will temper, this sorrow
1t differs in kind as well as degree from that
we have heretofore experienced.
For the present my prevailing sentiment is
that of some adventurous Cortez or Pizarro
who has burned his ships and most of his
baggage on an inhospitable shore, and feels
he can henceforth advance freely. l do not
feel that have heretofore been derelict, but
hereafter feel confident that no fear of per-
sonal consequences can deter me from doing
my duty. The road before me seems hilly
and heavy, and l have less strength than l
had, but shall swing my pack soon and
face those | meet with as blithe a counte-
nance as ever Kind regards to Mrs. Ran
dali. Yours. HORACE GREELEY.
2. 81 wrote a full account OF our disas-
ter to friend and will let you read it some
time, if YOU wish.