Journal of Dr GFW

This day is the commencement of a new scene of action, and I feel sensible of its importance to us both and particularly so in relation to the many duties incumbent on me as being the most responsible. We moved to our own dwelling today. My wife has now left her mother, confiding in me as her faithful guardian and protector, freed from the control of all others, willing to share with me the vicissitudes of life, be they pleasant or unpleasant, good or bad, or whether prosperity or the cold unfeeling hand of cheerless poverty may attend us through the tempestuous voyage of life. The prospect is gloomy, yet it must be determined, which shall be our fortune. It gives me real unpleasant feelings when I reflect on the many vicissitudes of life. Of how many and how various are the changes that are in the course of a few years.  How great is the number that during the past year, as young and healthy as we are, have left the shores of time, and one of us, before another annual revolution of the Earth, may be called hence. Soon may the unerring shaft be hurled, which consigns us to the silent mansions of the dead and all our anticipated happiness may end in anguish. What occurrence unattended with crime can more effectually deface every prospect of enjoyment, than the loss of the one we have chosen for life. A kind and affectionate bosom companion whose existence creates all our happiness and all our earthly affection concentrated there.