[Letter: date unknown]

[Letter: date unknown]

[unknown]

Friendship

Meningitis

Death -- Social aspects

image/jp2

Correspondence

This material is made available for private study, scholarship, and research use. For access to the original letter or high-resolution reproduction, please contact the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection (blockson@temple.edu; 215-204-6632).

Temple University Libraries, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection

William Still Collection

Blockson manuscripts

William Still Collection

Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Libraries

blockson@temple.edu

BMS010X0135

What is your number?/ Friday P.M./ My Dear Friend,/ This is the first oppor-/ tunity that I've had - to re-/ ply to your letter./ I was heartily glad to hear/ from you. Your letters always/ refresh me. They come as/ messengers of good./ Since I heard from you/ our spirits have been some/ what lifted by [Hinda's]/ action. I hope that by/ the time that you read/ this , Louisiana will help/ to cheer us- and then/ they will surely rush/ [thro'?] Oregon- and to Hayes./ You are happy mortals/ who live, in spite of election./ But think of us- who've had/ no salary since last July!/ And this brings me to a/ point which I must not for/ get./ 2./ It does seem that the open/ ing to which you refer ought/ to be sought gratefully by me./ But I think that by holding/ on to the end, I may get/ a portion at least of my/ money- whereas if I leave,/ I may never get it. If any/ money ever gets into the/ hands of the county treasur-/ er, his office will be taken/ by storm. But I'll agree to/ come home at the end of/ this term. For I'm quite sure/ that I shall soon be a/ confirmed invalid if I re-/ main here. Providence will/ provide for me in some/ way- I trust - And I [own?]/ that I feel like casting/ anchor somewhere in some/ permanent harbor. I feel as if I wanted my home./ 3./ Did you not receive a paper- containing/ an obituary notice of our friend's death?/ I sent you one. I was surprised to/ hear that you knew not of his death, be/ fore. He was ill about two weeks. The/ excitement and exposure incident upon/ the campaign resulted in tuberculous/ meningitis. His sickness was of the saddest/ character. He alternated between agoniz-/ ing pain and deliriment. It seems to me/ impossible to be reconciled to his death- unless/ he had a period of perfect consciousness- in/ which we could know the state of his mind on/ the subject of death./ Friends had prayed with him/ but his remarks were so/ incoherent that there was/ nothing that assured us./ But my prayer was answered/ and the last hours of his/ life were calm and pain-/ less. he left us feeling/ that his hope was too/ strong to be in vain./ He had been a kind friend/ and congenial associate./ I need not say that/ I miss him very greatly./ But his life was a load/ to him- he was so delicate/ that every current of air/ set him to coughing. There/ is one more precious memory/ for me. He was so unselfish/ and high-[lived?], that I try/ to think that he knows what/ we are doing- and is p[eras?]-/