Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
I1 Left your Amiable Sister About 2 hours ago, something better than you left her on Saty: The Anxiety which naturaly arrises in the mind at Leaving a Friend in Such distressg. Circumstances as your Sisters are, is the reason, of my troubling you with this Letter—which I hope you'll excuse as my only motive is disintrested friendship for her, whose state for several years past, has calld for all the care and kindness of her friends; not only those whose natural duty it is to affoard her all the Assistance in their power, but for them who have no other Ties but than those of humanity, and the Obligation they owe to every one in distress, as members of Christian Society. While She was at Germantown the care seem'd more immediately to Be Mr. Palmers; but as the Doctor disapproves of That Air, she was Laid under a necessity of changing it, to preserve a life which hangs by a very slender thread. And I am well satisfied if She had some friend to take some of them cares off of her mind, 'twould very much lighten her suffrings. My Circumstances in Life deprives me of that Ability to Serve her, which I heartily wish was in my power. She is now Among intire Strangers, and those that can have no Idea of What she suffers, nor can it be expected they should, and therefore the demand seems to be greater upon those who not only know, but have every inducement to make her cares their Own. And in her afflicted state 'Tis as much as human fortitude can sustain, to bear patiently such Agonies as She daily suffers without the Additional concern of providing for supporting Life Tolerably. Some faithfull friend she very much wants who will make her cares it their business to take her cares upon themselves; and I know none whose disposition or Abilities qualifies them so well for that Office as yours. How dangerous she may be I dont pretend to Say, but 'tis evident she cant Live thro many more such Shocks. 'Tis not so much she wants, but truffles to one in her weak state are of as much importance, as things of the greatest moment can be to persons in full health. If you Should think my Zeal has carried me too far, I hope you'll excuse it, as it springs from so Laudable a Cause; for I feel too keenly348any thing that effects her ease or happiness not to be Zealous. I am Sir your Hume. Servt.,
P.S. I write without Miss Eunices knolidge.
Mary Nicolson apparently was a seamstress in Boston. A bill from her to Isaac Smith for making breeches for his son Billy dated Aug. 19, 1769, is in the Smith-Carter Papers in the MHS. She was a member of the Cranch-Palmer-Smith-Paine circle of female correspondents (see Lyman Butterfield, ed., Adams Family Correspondence, 4 vols. [Cambridge, Mass., 1963–1973], 1:27 et passim). Several letters from Eunice Paine to Mary Nicolson during 1769 are in the Benjamin Pickman Papers, Essex Institute, Salem.