Thursday, October 12, 2023

Senator Henry Clay to Mrs. Susan Jacob Clay,* February 12, 1852

WASHINGTON, February 12, 1852.

MY DEAR SUSAN,—I received your letter of the 27th ultimo, and I had received that of James' of the 1st. I write now so uncomfortably and so slow, that I take up my pen with great repugnance. I was very glad to receive both of your letters, and was delighted to contemplate the picture of your domestic happiness with your husband and children. As the world recedes from me, I feel my affections more than ever concentrated on my children, and theirs.

My health has improved a little within the last few weeks, but the cough still hangs on, and unless I can get rid of it, or greatly diminish it, I can not look for a radical cure. The winter has been excessively rigorous, and I have not been out of the house for eight weeks. You must not believe all you see in the newspapers, favorable or unfavorable, about my health.

I hope you and James will continue to write to me, whether you receive regular replies or not. How has the dairy got through the winter?

My love to James and all my dear grandchildren.

_______________

* Wife of Clay’s son James Brown Clay

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 626-7

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