Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 1
If it be still true that "Good news from a far Country, is as cold water to a Thirsty Soul,"1 I believe I have it in my power mightily to refresh you at this time, Espescially since you have heard that the small-pox is so very mortal in Boston, & since you must be under great Concern for yr. Father & Sisters. Therefore I shall with pleasure inform you, that yr. Father, Two sisters, my Brother,2 Peggy3 & Cato have all had the Terrible Distemper with as much Ease as we could well wish. Not one of them ever had one Bad Symtom, nor had we Ever Occasion for a Watcher (only than One night for my Brother). Yr. Father had but 30 Pustles in his Face, my Wife 45 Eunice abt. 60, Cato & Peggy very few, but poor Enoch a million (as far as I know) & yet never lost a meal of Victuals altho' he stunk like----.4 All but Enoch had the 5 day Pock, & all (thro' the undeserved goodness of God soon recovered &) now Enjoy as good health as ever. I had like to have forgot to tell you they were all Inoculated as were also near 3000 of the Inhabitants of this Town & but Little more than One in an hundred have died of those that were Inoculated, but how many in the Naturall way is not yet known.5
But upon the whole 'tis allow'd that the Small-pox never was so favorable in Boston before. 'Tis now near thro' the Town, not more than Twenty Four Familys have it, & not Thirty persons.
Yr. Friend, Pitts Hall,6 is Dead of this Distemper. We have no News of any Consequence to write. Mr. Darrell's Death you have heard of, & had not Mr. Downe been dead too or a Sleep you might have been at home before now. Fisher is at New York, So that I took upon me to drive Mr. Downe after I had tried to perswade him, to prepare a Sloop for you but to no purpose however at Last he Consented to let me look out for one which I did & by Mr. Sympson's7 help I got One which he is Master of & I believe will Sail on Saturday next. Inclosed you have Sympson's Ordr. on Coutanch for £4.6.10 proclamation Money on Mr. Fishers Acct. But Downe's Rum You will not have 'till next Voyage. We are under great Concern for yr. health But hope you will Escape the Feaver & Ague. I have recd. Four Letters from you, but have had no safe opertunity to Convey any to you. Therefore hope you'll Excuse my not writing as the omission was not want Inclination or respect. Yr. Sisters I suppose will write to you if they have time.
174The Selectmen, out of Their great kindness to Carolina, will not Suffer yr. Chest to Come to Boston without airing, lest it be sent to you without, & so Spread the Small pox in Carolina.
Tell it not in Carolina! Publish it not in Bath-Town, lest the men of that country say of our Selectmen — That.---. Your Father's advice is that your Chest should remain at Hospitall Island8 'till your return at which Time tis to be demanded in a Legal maner. You must note yr. Father is Studying Law & has found out that you may Lay an Action against the person that detains your Chest. It may be of some Consequence to Inform you, that care was taken abt. yr. havg. yr. degree, as you may see by the Newspaper9 I herewith send you. My paper will not allow me to add, only that I wish you a good Voyage & am Yr. Loving Brother &c.,
Proverbs 25:25.
Enoch Greenleaf (1732–1805), younger brother of Joseph Greenleaf, lived in Boston until the Revolution and moved to Weston, Mass., in 1777.
Not identified, perhaps a temporary household servant.
Blank in MS.
See final estimates given in RTP to Henry Darrall and Samuel Downe, Apr. 15, 1752, note 1, above.
Pitts Hall (1729–1752), a Boston merchant (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 12:162).
John Simpson, Jr.
Rainsford Island, Boston Harbor.
Probably The Boston Weekly News-Letter of May 7, 1752, which carried President Holyoke's letter of May 5, cancelling the Harvard Commencement and admitting candidates to the first and second degrees without their personal attendance. The newspaper enclosure has not been found.
Your absence at this time gives me great uneasyness for I am affraid you have taken the Disease so Common at this time of year in Carolina. I long to have you return that we may have another opertunity of rejoicing together, at the favours we have Receiv'd at the hand of a kind Providence in your preservation abroad and in Carriing us all with175Safty through the Dangers of the Small pox and Gaurding us from the Malignity of it so that five out of Six can but guess at the distemper as it Commonly Seizes. Soon after you sail'd it broke out in Several familys in town but tis Generally thought it might have been Stop'd, had the phisians & the town in general desir'd. It was thought to be a good Season of the year and no business in town to be hindred therefore twas best to have it Spread; and Contrary to Law, when it was it but five or Six houses they began to inoculate. We waited till the Seventh of April and then my self with Cato & Peggy went through the operation. We all had it more favourable than you had. When my Eruption was Compleated which was the tenth day Father rec'd the infection in the same maner and five days after Sister Eunice return'd from Braintree (wither she had fled for some time to avoid so many Sick at once) and was inoculated and at the turn of hers Enoch Came from Watertown and went the Operation. He had it in a much worse maner than we having more pustiles than all the rest but no bad Symtoms. Father was so well as to visit Sister every day and it has Left him better in health than he was before. Excepting Enoch we had the five day sort and have Scarcely any marks to Show. It has made a quicker and more general progess thro: the town then ever was known and vastly more favorable in general then formerly. About 25 hundred have been inoculated & thirty two died. Many of your friends have had it, and I think none of our intimates have been taken away.
I have run my Epistle to a great Lenth without Saying half that I Design'd and can now only add my hearty good wishes for your wellfare & Safe return which I hope will be Speedy. You wrote for you