Don't lose the crown of joy she now wears, and the Lord be
gracious to you in all things. You will now need to act more and more
from a feeling of responsibility to Jesus, seeing He has taken away one
of your guardians. A right straightforward woman was she. No crooked way
ever hers, and she could act with decision and energy when required. I
pity you on receiving this, but it is the Lord.--Your sorrowing and
lonely father."
Letters of the like tenor were written to every intimate friend. It was
a relief to his heart to pour itself out in praise of her who was gone,
and in some cases, when he had told all about the death, he returns to
speak of her life. A letter to Sir Roderick Murchison gives all the
particulars of the illness and its termination. Then he thinks of the
good and gentle Lady Murchison,--"la spirituelle Lady Murchison," as
Humboldt called her,--and writes to her: "It will somewhat ease my
aching heart to tell you about my dear departed Mary Moffat, the
faithful companion of eighteen years." He tells of her birth at Griqua
Town in 1821, her education in England, their marriage and their love.
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