How shall I express the extreme Pleasure I feel when I inform you that I received your kind epistle (Dated the 4th. November) on the 22d Instant In which you say that I would blame you If you did not Improve so favorable an Oppertunity to write to an Old Companion an[d] Schoolmate, here you Speak a Sentiment which corroborates with mine, I certainly wou[ld] have thought hard of an Old Friend by wh[ose] endearing name I am assured I may safely call you did he not when in his Power endeavour to keep up that Familiarity [with] the help of Letters which the great D[istance] that is Between us has Prevented [. . .] do by enjoying one an others Company. An Oppertunity is also offered to me which should I Neglect I should think myself guilty of the blackest Ingratitude, of an Injustice which no Person could pardon but such an one as you be, a Pers[on] Possessed of a Candid mind one wh[o] acts up[on] Sentim[e]nts [of] Honor and Friendship and does not [. . .]uces of Passion, but enough of this.

Let me now take up the Contents of yo[ur] Letter. As they Stand your Description [of] your House & the Tediousness of your Jo[ur]ney are the two first Sentences on wh[ich] my Attention is fixed, but be assured that my meditation thereon does not b[ring] me Pleasure but on the Contrary Pain. This Pain is most entirely alleviated In the next Sentence. I read your co[. . .]ble Disposition with regard to the Diff[iculty] you are encountering when I see [. . .] are possessed of Contentment that [. . .] Harbinger of Felicity, Yes Sir, were a[. . .] thus enduced to encounter Hardship [. . .] affairs would wear a Different Prosp[ect.] I cannot help admiring the Ingenuity [on] Display in catching Deer. This must [. . .] be an agreeable amusement at the E[xpense] of the Poor Animal. Will you believe [me if] I tell you that certainly I envy you al[l the] Pleasures you enjoy without myself ha[ving a] Share in them. How Happy must a life [. . .] that you live retired from the Noise [and the] Bustle of unruly People, surrounde[d by] almost none but those who are con[nected] to you by the sacred Ties of Consangu[inity] and such as you, may Depend on, [On] the other hand I live as It were expos[ed to] the Censure and malicious Dispositio[n of] those Capricous People with whic[h] [. . .] Abounds, I [. . .] Censure [. . .] you Know that evil Disposed Peop[le] always find Something on which to [. . .] their Poisonous Breath but why d[o] I expatiate on this, you have exper[ienced] and therefore Know, Between mo[ther] Brimstone and myself subsists a [. . .] Enmity occasioned by a Quarrel w[ith] Josiah who is now as great as Le[. . .] occasioned by his Tending Silvesters Store. You Know too well the Character of this Woman to think I fear the Conseque[nces] here also experience has learnt you. Now I come to the Sentence which Interests me more than all that is your Wish that I should come, & participate of your Pleasure to this Pleasing [. . .] Gratitude; My Sisters [&] mother reque[st] me to [. . .] you to give their Compliments to your Father and mother & Sister. Do me also that Ki[nd]ness and give my Compliments to e[very] one in the Family, not one Excepted.