Artifacts & Documents: Manuscripts

Benjamin Silliman's Letter to Edward Hitchcock, March 20, 1824

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Benjamin Silliman consoles Edward Hitchcock on the death of his infant son.  He reminds Hitchcock that it is better to come to terms with the uncertainty of  life and think instead of his child's "new surround."  He believes, despite the fact that it interferes with "Metaphysical divinity," that it is God's mercy that He chooses to remove the very young from us before they have developed into "moral agents."  Silliman says that despite the poor medical attention that may have caused Edward's son's death, Silliman has lost four children whom he believes the best of doctors could not have saved.

Creator:
Benjamin Silliman
Date:
March 20, 1824
Courtesy of:
Edward and Orra White Hitchcock Papers, Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library