help thinking when I see them how glad I am that my sons are better
employed at Andover than beating the streets or drums; that they are
laying in a good store of useful knowledge against the time to come,
while these poor boys, many of them, at least, are learning what they
will be glad by and by to unlearn.

July 30, 1805.

MY DEAR SONS,--Have you heard of the death of young Willard at Cambridge,
the late President Willard's son? He died of a violent fever occasioned
by going into water when he was very hot in the middle of the day. He
also pumped a great deal of cold water on his head. Let this be a warning
to you all not to be guilty of the like indiscretion which may cost you
your life. Dreadful, indeed, would this be to all of us. I wish you would
not go into water oftener than once a week, and then either early in the
morning or late in the afternoon, and not go in when hot nor stay long in
the water. Remember these cautions of your mama and obey them strictly.

A young lady twenty years old died in Boston yesterday very suddenly. She
eat her dinner perfectly well and was dead in five minutes after. Her
name was Ann Hinkley. You see, my dear boys, the great uncertainty of
life and, of course, the importance of being always prepared for _death_,
even a _sudden death_, as we know not what an hour may bring forth. This
we are sensible of, we cannot be _too soon or too well_ prepared for that
all-important moment, as this is what we are sent into this world for.
The main business of life is to prepare for death. Let us not, then, put
off these most important concerns to an uncertain to-morrow, but let us
in earnest attend to the concerns of our precious, never-dying souls
while we feel ourselves alive.