Saturday, October 28, 2023

John Brown Jr. to John Brown, November 28, 1859

JEFFERSON, ASHTABULA Co., OHIO,}
Thursday, Nov. 28, 1859.}

My dear, dear Father: I have just learned that there is probably a way through which I may communicate with you; and, though the time is short, I must say a word.

While my heart is bowed down with unutterable grief, I have cause to thank God that my reason is yet unclouded. The Spirit which has sustained you in your hours of dreadful suffering, and which dispels the shadows of "the dark valley," has not deserted us who love to call you father. I feel that I cannot, in these my last words to you on this side of Heaven, say any thing more comforting. Though we are poor in this world's goods, and some of our number are hunted by the minions of tyranny for endeavoring to aid our despised and oppressed brethren, we yet feel rich in the legacy of your life and deeds.

You say in your letter to J. R., "Tell my poor boys not to mourn for me." O, how can we help mourning for you? We must mingle our tears together over our dear lost father. No, not lost; for, "though you die, yet shall you rise again." For a brief period, you must pass beyond our sight. We may never look upon your outward form again, but still you will live live in the hearts of your children, and in the hearts of millions of poor Afric's sons and daughters, who will yet love to call you father.

Be assured that all I can do to minister to the comfort of the destitute members of our family, I shall do, "not forgetting those in bonds as bound with them."

And now, my dear father, be cheered by our conviction that your life furnishes the best vindication of your memory; that, even now, your motives are appreciated by those whose hearts are susceptible to generous and noble emotions; and, O! with these words I convey the assurance of the undying attachment of your affectionate son John, in this his long, last Farewell.

SOURCE: James Redpath, Editor, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry, p. 429

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