Contributed by Kathleen Haynes      Contact Myrtle Bridges     August 16, 2008


		                        Greenville, Va.
		                        July 30, 1902

Miss Sue Tate
Morganton, NC

Dear Miss Sue,
	I hardly know what I could say further than to tell you, how very much I feel for you in this 
the greatest loss one has in the life here below. The blow was so sudden that I can hardly bring 
myself to appreciate that such a strong and beautiful character and true friend, has passed to the 
great beyond. Sometimes one feels, and I daresay it is always so with true Christians, that the 
ties beyond the river daily grow stronger and one grows more and more willing to pass over and be 
with, when the summons comes.
	In thinking of your dear mother, what Mama has said so often of her comes to me. That she would 
feel she had accomplished something in life if she could inspire her children with such thoughtful 
and tender devotion as your mother had hers. It must be a source of comfort to you [knowing that you] 
had been all to her that a mother could wish. It is true the hand of the Father is laid heavily upon 
you, yet what great consolation there is in that oft quoted passage, that those whom He loves He 
chastenith.
	I can feel in a way how great your sorrow is, and yet you have that faith, denied to many, which 
mingles some sweet with the bitter, i.e. the satisfaction of knowing that sometime you will be re-united. 
The separation at most cannot be long. As for myself I feel I have lost one of our truest and dearest 
friends whose place can never again be filled. I know nothing I may say can avail to comfort, but I 
want so much for you to feel how deep is my sympathy for you and the other dear ones, 
					Yours, Alex

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