1832 January 13, Woodbourne, to Dear Brother, Philadelphia (Pa.)

              Woodbourne 1 month 13th 1832 Dear Brother, I have recd. thine of 26 ulto. & 2nd. inst. but neither of them until 7 or 8 days after those dates. immediately after the recet of the letter, I wrote to Dr. Rose relative to the nuts, but have since understood that he is not at home. his wife & fmaily are now in Philada., and no doubt make their home at Andrew Hodge's. if therefore, it wd. be convenient for either of you to call upon the Doctor's wife, I think it wd. be adviseable to do so, and to ask her what course had best be pursued with regard to said articles. if she shd. not be in the City, I wd. be obliged by thy informing me in whose care they are left in New York, in order that I or Dr. Rose may know where to send for them. it will doubtless be best to have them landed at N. York, as they can then be sent the greater part of the way, to their place of destination by water. and I have no doubt that Dr. R. will feel obliged by information of such an opp'y. I am gratified in hearing that most of you have recovered from your at- tacks of the influenza. I still escape, altho' almost every one in this neighbourhood had been unwell with the complaint, some seriously so. I suppose my turn is yet to come. some persons console me by saying, that I will not be likely to suffer so severely from it, as those are likely to be first and most severely attacked, whose systems are predisposed and prepared for the disease. ____please consult thy own convenience with reard to the transfer of the balance in my favour on the books of Thomas P Cope + Sons. ___ I have nothing particular to mention and as this letter is written on business, and ought not therefore to be detained, I will not at present search out subjects to write upon from amongst the prevailing topics of the day--, politics, masonry, theology, etc.__ I may mention, however, since I have bro't the subject into view, that I should think it likely that some interesting facts wd. be elicited relative to masonry, by the examination which is about being made, before the Legislature of Rhode Island. I think it wd. be a good thing, if all secret societies and associations were put down by the force of public opinion, calmly rationally & tolerantly expressed. but I do not think that those act fairly or consistently, who cry out against persecution & proscription, and yet show a disposition to proscribe others who may sincerly and conscientious-ly differ from them in opinion, showing a disposition to be liberal only so long as others conform to what they may choose to consider the standard of correct principles.