163

    To Sarah Savage Thatcher

    Philadelphia        3 April 1798

    My dear—

    [. . . .]

    I expect you will be alarmed about war, & that Congress must set all Summer with a thousand other reports—To which I can only say—I do not imagine our affairs to be so gloomy and desperate as some of the News-papers represent them—It is very true every thing is uncertain, & great commotions exist in all parts of Europe; they are earthquakes, whose undulations shake the American world—But I think the concussion will not be very violent or of long continuance—

    Keep yourself in good, chierfull spirits, be of good chear—comfort those who are ready to dispond—& hope for the best—Remember above all things, that whatever is, is certainly for the best—

    Yours most affectionately

    [P.S.] Inclosed is a ten dollar Bill.

    * * *

    ALS, TFP. Addressed to Biddeford, franked. Omitted text discusses laying in a store of corn for the summer.