Nashville, February 14, 1864.
. . . I have received the photographs. Mine is miserable; I
look in it sad and deathlike, yet I am not prepared to say it is not a correct
picture, for perhaps it is. I never sat for one that did not contain that same
sad sorrowful expression. It may be that I appear to others as my pictures show
me to myself. If so, how miserable I must be deemed. But am I miserable and
unhappy? No, I am not. Your sweet and beautiful picture daguerreotypes the
feelings of my heart. I am happy in my wife and my children's love, and in
great numbers of friends who are ever willing to serve me. So keep not the
picture of me, dearest. It is false to my heart, though it may be true to my
face. Retain that of yourself and in your warm, loving imagination invest it
with all the virtues the original possesses, and say this reflects truly my
husband's heart and soul. He loves me and confides in me all things. . . .
SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins,
p. 399
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