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		At Br. P.W. Dowd’s  Wake Co. 12 miles S.W. from Raleigh
							Apl. 21, 1831
My dear Wife,

	It was on the 15 inst., at the close of the introductory sermon that I rec’d your letter dated March 20……..and………for the first time learned that our dear little boy was no more. That morning while coming on to the meeting I was thinking how happy I should be when I came to see you.- I thought that I should immediately have both of our dear little ones in my arms. I was imagining how well my little boy could talk, etc. When the letter was handed me I saw the black seal, and trembled while I broke it. I thought, possibly I am now to hear of the death of my father or my mother, of a brother or a sister. But did not at that moment think of either of our dear children.

	O, my dear son!…I do not see how I can consent to see you and Ann Eliza without him. As yet I have not even heard when he died. I cannot write…O! how I want to see the spot where his precious remains lie. Yes, let there be grave stones, as white as may be, and as they must not be very wide, let them be as thick as they can be and not look too clumsy, in order that they may possess sufficient strength. Let there be an urn on the head-stone, with a weeping willow thrown over it. Use my name, abbreviated just as I write it; and only the named name without any title. I am inclined to think it will be best simply to say, In memory of William Carey, son of Sam’l and Sally Wait, (write your own name as you wish), born in Newbern, N.C., then say when, and died etc., aged etc. If you wish a line or two below, then have them put on. The following are very familiar, but I have thought of them some,

	“Sleep on, dear babe, and take thy rest
	God call’d thee home, he knew ‘twas best”.

But I am not anxious for these or any others. Do about this as you please. Have W.C.W. on the foot-stone. I wish that the stone might be sound and strong and long enough to reach a suitable length into the ground. Father or Br. Hiram or Br. Smith, will assist you. Have the grave rounded up middling high and a green turf put on the top. (See if there be any e in Carey; I am not now sure, but I think there is.)