Faraday to Margery Ann Reid   1 October 1863

The Green, Hampton Court: October 1, 1863.

Dear Maggie, - So we turn the times over. Here is the first of a new month, and a new season is coming over us, for the rain falls, and the winds blow, and the sun shines with a strength and in an order, or rather disorder, that reminds me of an old man, who, purposing to do one thing is drawn off to do another, who, intending to communicate with you, is led away to chat with another girl and forgets you. However, she is gone. I forget what the thought was like; its end is confusion, and so I come to wakefulness and life again.

…

All these events may well lessen our thoughts and hold of life. But what a blessing it is that there is nothing in them to diminish the hopes belonging to that far better life to which this is only the entrance.

The sorrow is for the night only; joy cometh in the morning ¹.

Give my love to your dear father².

You know I am clumsy at sending loves, and wish not to be mingled with those who do it as of habit, but here are a few names besides those I have mentioned.

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I must stop, or I shall run into folly.

Ever, my dear Maggie, your affectionate uncle, | M. Faraday