401. APPROBATION OF NEIGHBORS.—
It is a sufficient happiness to me to know
that my fellow citizens of the country generally
entertain for me the kind sentiments
which have prompted this proposition [to
meet him on his way home] without giving
to so many the trouble of leaving their homes
to meet a single individual. I shall have opportunities
of taking them individually by the
hand at our court house and other public
places, and of exchanging assurances of mutual
esteem. Certainly it is the greatest consolation
to me to know, that in returning to
the bosom of my native country, I shall be
again in the midst of their kind affections:
and I can say with truth that my return to
them will make me happier than I have been
since I left them.—
To T. M. Randolph. Washington ed. v, 431.
Ford ed., ix, 247.
(W.
Feb. 1809)
