This I may consider one of the most terrible days of my eventful life– My darling Emma departed from this mortal sphere at twenty minutes to four o’clock– My heart is nearly broken– all the world is dark and I know not what to do– where shall I turn for comfort we are all of us overcome with grief– what can we do to relieve our overburdened hearts. O Thou Omnipotent who reigns on high– help us in this our hour of need and give us power to overcome and rise above this terrible stroke which has as it were crushed the life-blood from our hearts.¹ [p. 120] {p. 73}