Sarah Sheldon letter to Thomas Rotch

               
   B-174-2
                               Wednesday
   Dear Sir
          As it is not probable I shall have
  an opportunity of conversing with you upon
  a subject which I believe gives us both
  pain, I have taken this method of commun-
  icating to you may feelings, precisely as
  they rise in my mind. Your kind simpathy
  has endeared you to me very much, and
  whatever may become of me, whatever my
  lot in life may be, I shall ever think of your
  kindness with gratitude.  Although we cannot
  agree in many of the doctrines of christianity,
  I trust we can feel that christian love and
  fellowship which the professors of the meek
  and humble Jesus ought to feel one for the
  other.  Under these impressions, I confide
  in you, knowing that your counsel like that
  of a kind father will be good for me; I do
  [illegible]sincerely believe, that [illegible] can 
  [illegible] which he [illegible] me, and
  [illegible] with one of his [illegible] way of
  [illegible] will be very much [illegible] happi-
  [illegible] this woulrld and prehaps cna extri-
  [illeiglbe] from this "thraldom", may lead him
  to a more faithful discharge of the duties
  he owes his God.You say we can never be hap-
  -py unless we think nearer alike - My belief appe-
  -ears at present to be fixed not from any
  prejudice of education, nor any influence of
  man- but from a serious, prayerful
  investigation for myself - or at least what