Boston June 5th 63
600 Mt Vernon St.

My very dear Friend

I constantly
think of you & wish
I could stake off
my selfishness, and
go to work as you
do. But I feel
weak in body & mind.
I have so often tried
to thank you for
your blessed letter.
But I cannot
write calmly of
my boy even to you;
and I cannot
write of anything
else to you who
have gone through
it all, even to the
suddenness of the agony.

[left side]

I trust we shall
sometime meet, &
from it all out
to each other, as
mothers who have
gone through it
all only can. I
cannot talk of it
now in a letter, but
I must thank you
for the consoling &
comforting thoughts
you gave to all of
us. Every time I
read your letter
I feel more gratitude
to you for all
that there is in
it. We all feel
it possible nearer
drawn together as
a family than only

[right side]

now with this great
grief in common.
As you truly say
many has indeed
done nobly, as they
all have, in bearing
up for my sake.
We feel as if none
but those who have
suffered the same
in all respects, as
you & yours have
& do, can know
the bitterness, I
cannot think my
dear friend, that
many have such
sons & brother's as
our dear boys. It
was a comfort
to us all to read

again last write
the memoir of
your dear Willie.
How sweet such
memories are, but
how hard to look
forward to perhaps
years of reparation!
I hope to be useful
again, but now,
excepting that I still
do some work for
soldiers, & a little
for my family, I seem
to myself lazy and
good-for-nothing. I
feel paralysed & dead
sometimes. Our best
love to all of you.
Ever your loving
friend
Susan P. Parkman