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Excerpts from Souvenir Submitted by David M. Waid |
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KASSON, Minn., March 8, 1887. My Dear Friends, Mr. and Mrs. Waid and Family:
Your very kind letter, and also the kind remembrance, or Souvenir,
you sent us, were duly received and should have been gratefully
acknowledged much sooner had we been at home when they came, but Mr.
Taylor and I were both in Wisconsin at that time.
I take this first opportunity after reaching home to answer your
most welcome letter, and to thank you from our hearts for the book.
It will be a precious keepsake for us, and especially for myself,
having been acquainted at some period of my life with almost every one of
whom it speaks, and with most of them very intimately.
In perusing the book so many things which had almost entirely gone
from my memory concerning both persons, and places, came back again to my
mind with all the freshness of the time when they happened, and I live
over again in imagination many of the old times, both sad and gay. I have read and re-read the book. It is like a visit home again, and I prize it very much.
I shall enjoy so much looking at those familiar faces and those
home residences, but above all looking upon that dear old State Road
Church, so appropriately called the Pilgrims' Home.
It was there I found the Savior, so precious to me.
Let me thank you again for sending the Souvenir to us. Ever your friends, ROBERT AND PAMELIA A. TAYLOR. MEADVILLE, April 24, 1887.
Dear Sir: Please
accept my thanks for a copy of your Souvenir which you sent me.
I find it interesting and instructive, and I have learned many
things from it which I did not know.
You have my best wishes for your future prosperity and happiness. Yours truly, J. D. CLEMSON. MEADVILLE, April 28, 1887.
Dear Sir: Your Souvenir
has been handed me. I am
obliged to you for honoring me with a copy.
In looking through its pages I find many valuable suggestions and
much sound advice. It will be
of more and more interest as time passes.
Again thanking you for your kind remembrance, I remain, Very truly yours, SAMUEL P. BATES. WILLIAMSPORT, May 9, 1887.
My Dear Cousin: I
received the book you sent me, and let me thank you kindly for it.
How very kind of you to remember me of whom you know and have seen
so little. I assure you I
shall prize the book and appreciate the kindness more than I can tell you,
and hope through it to become more acquainted with your family and others
of my mother's relatives of whom I know very little.
I left that place when so young that I can remember very little of
any one there. I enjoyed my
visit there over twenty years ago very much and thought then that I might
visit there again, and should, if brother, Henry O.
Allen, had remained there, but he moved to Iowa soon after our
visit, and we removed from Athens, Bradford county, to Williamsport, and
have lived here ever since. Your friend and cousin, CLARA W HART *When my brother and I visited Fayette
Allen, Dec. 25, 1888, we learned that Clara
W. Hart had died Sept. 16, 1888.--F. C. WAID. MEADVILLE, Oct. 17, 1887. Francis C. Waid, Esq.
Dear Sir: Please
accept my thanks for the volume left at my office by you for me.
It is a very interesting memorial, and I shall take pleasure in
reading it.
With my best wishes for your prosperity, I am Your friend, John J. HENDERSON. NEW RICHMOND, Nov. 1, 1887.
Dear Sir: Your token
of friendship in the form of a biography and history of your family and
friends was gladly received by me, and after a careful perusal I pronounce
it a very correct and useful work for those who enjoy calling up old
recollections of friends and acquaintances, and one that contains much
useful knowledge for the young. Please
accept my thanks for remembering me in this way. Very truly yours, E. J. BAILEY. CHICAGO, July 3, 1888. F. C. Waid, Esq., Meadville,
Pa.
Dear Sir: Your letter
of June 26th was duly received, as was also your book sent to his son
(Robert T. Lincoln's son). Mr.
Lincoln is at present on a vacation trip abroad, and is not expected home
until the latter part of August. I
write now, therefore, simply to acknowledge the receipt of your book and
letter. I will call his attention to both of them upon his return.
Very respectfully yours, WILLIAM S. CAMERON. CHICAGO, August 30, 1888. F. C. Waid, Esq., Meadville,
Pa.
Dear Sir: Please
accept my thanks for your favor of June 28th, and also for the Souvenir
book, which I have taken pleasure in giving to my son.
Very truly yours, ROBERT T. LINCOLN. *It is written the name of the just is had in everlasting
remembrance. Perish not from
my memory the name of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and while I live, with pleasure
will I cherish and appreciate the honor conferred on me by Robert
T. Lincoln.--F. C. Waid. GREENVILLE, Penn., Dec. 17, 1888. My Esteemed Friend, F. C. Waid:
I have just received the copy of your Souvenir, which you
kindly present to me. Allow
me to thank you and to say that I will ever cherish it as a treasure far
more valuable than a gift of gold. Many
persons of means erect to the memory of their deceased friends, costly
monuments beside their graves, and it is often the case that the meanest
men have placed to their memory the most expensive tomb-stones. You
have struck the right plan of perpetuating the names of your relatives who
have gone to their rewards, and of leaving with your posterity the daily
acts and ups and downs of your own busy life.
Such a souvenir will last long after the moss has grown over the
tomb-stones, or the marble has crumbled to mother earth.
Happy should the man be who can conscientiously publish such a
volume as you have sent me, without fear of its being an evil text for the
"gossiping critic" who is of no more use to society than rot is
to a ship. My brief acquaintance with you was one of much pleasure, and
I am glad to learn that your business placed in my hands was so attended
to that the implicit confidence you had in me has never been shattered.
I had heard, before getting your letter, that your estimable wife
had been called to her rest, beyond this world of strife.
I can well remember her, and permit me to extend to you my sincere
sympathy in this, the loneliest, the saddest and most melancholy year of
your active life. It surely
seems hard that she who had shared with you for thirty-four years the
hardships, trials, troubles and blessings incident to this life, should be
taken forever away when you had arrived at that age when you were most in
need of a true and trusted friend and counselor; but He who holds in His
hand the verdict that settles the future of each of his creatures, had
reasons for severing her life's cord and gathering her into His heavenly
kingdom. You may be consoled
by the happy thought that you can continue to live the life that will
insure your welcome to the place where she has been carried by the angel
of death. May I hope that
your life will be spared for many years to come, and that it will be
fraught with kind acts, such as will serve to add to your already attained
high Christian character and good name, which will be the grandest legacy
you can leave to your relatives and friends.
With the kindest wishes I remain, Your sincere friend, J. M. RUNK.
April 17, 1889. Mr. Francis C. Waid.
Dear Friend: Your
book, Souvenir, is plainly and pointedly written.
It is a good book and will do good.
The doctrine is sound, the spirit is sweet and helpful to a serious
reader. Every point discussed
is so briefly and yet so earnestly put that the reader will be fascinated
as he progresses to read on and on till he finishes the volume.
As your friend, I am gratified that you find time to write books,
and especially because you will reach an audience peculiarly your own,
which you will inspire to read and think.
Your topics are among the best, and their presentation in your way
will move others to believe that an unselfish life is the noblest kind one
can live. May your life be spared many years, and may you succeed in
doing much good is the wish of Faithfully yours, T. L. FLOOD, The Chautauquan, Dr. T. L. Flood, editor and proprietor, Meadville, Pa.
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