As I have always understood that you are settled in South Wales, near my uncle John, I shall refer you to mine to him, for a particular account of my mother; I hope, please God, all may end well at last.
Our public affairs have, through the merciful and almost miraculous interposition of kind Providence, taken quite another turn of late, and were it not that the Cherokee Indians have most perfidiously broken their treaty of peace, and fallen upon our frontiers, we should enjoy the sweets of peace again. But they have done considerable mischief in North Carolina on our borders, and some in our own Province; several families, that had since the former troubles returned to their settlements on the frontiers, are again frightened and have left them—so that the county I lived in (Halifax), is as much confused, and as unfit, of course, for my business as when I left it. Our colonies are raising men to go against them. May the Lord of Hosts, the only giver of all victory, prosper the enterprise.
I, for my part, had, for the last two years I lived in Halifax, very little to do as a surveyor, nor should I, if I had continued till now. I there lived on rented land, at a smart expense, had houses, etc., here, suffering for want of me, and above all, had a longing desire to retire and live in private, where I might attend to the education of my boys, and had hopes that I could be, through the grace of God, thankfully contented with that competency with which his bounty had blessed me; nor have I as yet, thank God, found myself in the least disappointed. I was always persuaded that a middle station was the happiest, in which condition it has pleased God in mercy to place me, with thousands of blessings—even
