Mary R. Morton letter to Charity Rotch, Philadelphia, 26 1st mo, 1800

              B-273-4 
 
		Philadelphia 1st day evening 26..1stmo  1800
    I wrote to thee, my dear Cousin, about ten days ago
& mentioned the death of one of thy dear Sister s very fine boys.
The other was then sick; but I hoped, in common with all its
connections, that it would have been restored. But the dis-
order continued to make a slow tho  steady progress, & this
day week I believe it was generally given over.  Towards
evening it seemed considerably relieved, & for several days
afterwards coughed & raised pretty freely; & tho  his strength
seemed gradually declining, yet these indications of the
abatement of the primary disease incouraged even the
Doctor to hope; tho  he had from the beginning of the
childs illness, expressed his apprehensions of losing him
on fourth day last the blister on his neck appeared much
inflamed, & his general debility greatly increased; he
continued growing weaker, and the inflammation increase-
ing, till 7th day morning, when it appeared that a mor-
-tification had taken place on his neck.  He lay pretty
quietly till a quarter after four in the afternoon, & then
after opening his lovely eyes, & looking round upon us
shut them close himself, & expired with out any apparent
struggle.  The two nights preceeding his death he had been
more restless than usual, & the last day several times
coughed up a substance of a consistence between clotted
blood & putrid flesh and in arraying the dear little