CHAPTER IV

LED BY THE SPIRIT

THE earliest of the letters so fortunately preserved by the affection
of Isaac Hecker's kindred is addressed to his mother, from Chelsea,
and bears date December 24, 1842. After giving some details of his
arrival, and of the kindly manner in which he had been received, he
writes:*

[* We have corrected some slight errors of orthography and
punctuation in these early letters. They were of the sort to be
expected from a self-trained youth, as yet little used to the written
expression of his thoughts. They soon disappear almost entirely.]

"But as regards your advice to write my thoughts to you, that is an
impossibility which I cannot govern or control. This ought not to be
so, but so it is. Am I to blame? I feel not. And what if I could
tell? It might be only a deep dissatisfaction which could not be made
intelligible, or at least not be felt as it is felt by me. Let us be
untroubled about it. A little time, and, I hope, all will pass away,
and I be the same as usual. We all differ a little, at least in our
characters; hence there is nothing surprising if our experiences
should differ. I feel that a little time will be my best remedy,
which I trust we will await without much anxiety. Resignation is
taught when we cannot help ourselves. Take nothing I have said
discouragingly. Turn fears into hopes and doubts into faith, and we