DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER,
I have great trouble, and some comfort, to acquaint you with. The
trouble is, that my good lady died of the illness I mentioned to you,
and left us all much grieved for the loss of her; for she was a dear
good lady, and kind to all us her servants. Much I feared, that as I
was taken by her ladyship to wait upon her person, I should be quite
destitute again, and forced to return to you and my poor mother, who
have enough to do to maintain yourselves; and, as my lady's goodness
had put me to write and cast accounts, and made me a little expert at my
needle, and otherwise qualified above my degree, it was not every family
that could have found a place that your poor Pamela was fit for: but
God, whose graciousness to us we have so often experienced at a pinch,
put it into my good lady's heart, on her death-bed, just an hour before
she expired, to recommend to my young master all her servants, one by
one; and when it came to my turn to be recommended, (for I was sobbing
and crying at her pillow) she could only say,
My dear son!--and so broke off a little; and then recovering--Remember my poor Pamela--And these
were some of her last words! O how my eyes run--Don't wonder to see the
paper so blotted. Well, but God's will must be done!--And so comes the comfort, that I
shall not be obliged to return back to be a clog upon my dear parents!
For my master said, I will take care of you all, my good maidens; and
for you, Pamela, (and took me by the hand; yes, he took my hand before
them all,) for my dear mother's sake, I will be a friend to you, and you
shall take care of my linen. God bless him! and pray with me, my dear
father and mother, for a blessing upon him, for he has given mourning
and a year's wages to all my lady's servants; and I having no wages as
yet, my lady having said she should do for me as I deserved, ordered the
housekeeper to give me mourning with the rest; and gave me with his own
hand four golden guineas, and some silver, which were in my old lady's
pocket when she died; and said, if I was a good girl, and faithful and
diligent, he would be a friend to me, for his mother's sake. And so I
send you these four guineas for your comfort; for Providence will not
let me want: