Letter from Abraham Owen Woodruff, 20 October 1894
Prest and Mrs. Emma S. Woodruff
My Dearest Parents:
Your kind letters have been received. One written by
Pa when sick, one from the office & Ma's of Sept. 30th
Permit me to answer them all together & accept my most
heart-felt gratitude that you are so thoughtful in writ-
ing to me. Was truly sorry to hear of Pa's illness & hope
long before this letter reaches you he will again being
enjoying his usual good health for which we are all
so thankful. The kind letters from Parents to a boy so
far from home have a wonderful effect upon him
as though many milese of land & water part us
share your joys and pertake of your sorrows the same
as I always did. The good advisce you give me from time
to time is received with a greatful heart & a desire to
fulfill your wishes & desires concerning me. We are
greatly blessed as a family with health & plenty; all that
is necessary to make us happy & we should be happy
indeed. I think it must be pleasing in the eyes of God
to see us contented with our lot. A people so greatly
blessed should show through their actions their gratefulness.
We all are too much inclined to undervalue the blessings
of our Lord & to get the idea that the Lord owes them
to us & that they are not a gift but a debt that he
owes us. How wrong this is & when we look around us,
look at familyies who were once happy, comfortable & rich,
who today have no home; the good family name is
gone & they are left without scarecely a friend.
