My Dear Mother:
I have received Father’s letter in which were enclosed, copied by you, those beautiful lines of the Dean of Canterbury –
“One fragment of the blessed Word,
Into the Spirit burned,
As better than the whole, half burned,
And by our interest turned.
Yes, the discipline of our Heaven by Father is best, but at times how hard it seems. We shrink from trials, and disappointment is bitter to us. Yet, how it purifies; and how glad it makes the spirit, when, leaning on them, we walk strongly through all.
I have also recd a long interesting letter from Catherine which in a few days, perhaps, I will try to answer.[…]
I am quite comfortably situated in every respect.
William McArthur to his mother, Sarah Prince Miltimore McArthur [McArthur Family Papers]