How are you doing? I hope this letter finds you doing well and in good health. Life for us has gotten worse since the last time we spoke. I am feeling very weak today and the tears are burning my eyes. This will probably be my last letter to you. Both of my little darlings have passed on and now Charles has taken ill and is bed ridden. I fear the end is near for him. This illness has stunned and plagued all of Europe. No one knows where it came from or how it started or when it will end. It seems like only yesterday Caitlyn was complaining of not feeling well. Dr. Garden came out to see her, but he was baffled and nothing he could do was working. I stayed up night and day looking after her praying and begging God to spare her life. She died 5 days ago. After my little angel Caitlyn died in my arms, I thought I would surely parish right beside her. .
Charles nearly lost his mind with grief. We buried her down at the end of the street in the cemetery where our mother and father rest in peace. Charles thought we should protect ourselves by barricading our doors and live in seclusion. Of course, this did not stop this horrible plague from claiming my dear little Sebastian. It seemed like it was only minutes after Caitlyn passed, Sebastian started to run a fever. I was frantic yelling and screaming at the doctors to come take care of him. They wouldn't even come to the house to help my baby boy. The plague is moving on rapidly and the doctors have not been able to do anything. I think eventually it will consume us all. .
Others in our community have left their homes, seeking safety in the remote countryside, but they too have fallen ill. Some families have even turned against each other- the well rejecting the sick. Jacob and Mary abandoned their three children when they became bed ridden. It made me so angry when I saw them leaving I could have killed them myself. They have given up all hope I suppose but I will never understand how a parent could leave their child.