Nashville Tenn Jan 2nd 1864 
Respected Brother Wm	 
      	  As I have an other opportu 
-nity to write & as I have not had a letter from you 
in a long time & feeling Somewhat anxious to hear 
from you I now take my pen in hand to write 
you a few lines I in the first place I do not know 
which of us is to blame for the discontinueing our 
correspondence for the length of time that has 
now elapsed Since we last corresponded withother 
but be that as it may & if the fault is on my 
part please accept these few lines as Symptoms of 
my doing better hereafter & if the fault Should be 
with you it will be made all right by your writing 
to me an answer to this     This 2nd Day of Jan 1864 
finds me in the Citty of Nashville & State of Tennessee 
enjoyin a comfortable degree of Health & Strength with 
other Blessings which are necessary for our comfort 
& the Support of our natural Life for which I 
feel indebted to God from the oapning of whose Liberal
Hand all our wants are Supplied each day as 
it passes records His Goodness towards us Surely 
Goodness & Mercy has been manifest in His kind 
dealings toward us all our days & is it our hapy 
lot to recognise that our God haht dealt Mercifully 
with us & does our hearts flow out towards Him 
in Grattitude & Thanksgiving & have we an abideing 
Faith within our hearts that Jesus is our Friend & 
Savior if So then all the Storms of Sorrow & 
Affliction cannot rob us of the Hope of life & 
immortality beyond this veil of tears & as a matter 
    peace 
of course it is our privelege to enjoy that ^ which 
passeth understanding The Apostle Says that Godliness 
with contentment is great gain haveing the promise 
of the Life that now is & of that which is to come 
also that God will not withold any good thing from 
those that walk uprightly Surely Brother it is a 
 be 
blessed thing to ^ an humble Disciple of Jesus 
Brother let us heed the answer that our Blssed 
Master gave one of His disciples when he asked the 
question Are thare feew that be Saved the answer 
was Strive to enter in at the Strait gate for I
 Say unto you that many Shall Seak to enter 
in & Shall not be able 
   Brother it has now been nearly 1 1/2 years Since I 
enlisted in the Service of my country day after day 
& week after week has flown Swiftly by nearly 
one 1/2 of the Term for which I enlisted has gone 
True Time has flown Swiftly but not So Swiftly 
          to 
as not ^ leave it impressed on our minds that we 
are Mortals Where are Some of our Fiends & 
Neighbors that were in the full vigor of life when 
we last Saw them & to come nearer Where is 
our Brother Charles he with others has gone 
to the grave whither we all are fast hastening 
& as it is appointed unto man once to die 
& after that the Judgement   It becomes us too 
look around & try our Soundings & ascertain where 
we are & what the prospects are for us in the 
future  I take it that there is no necessity for 
our being deceived in this matter 
   I am as ever your Brother James Lickly 
 
To Wm Lickly