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LM004
Gladys Meredith [Mary Webb] autograph letter, July 9 [1911] to future mother-in-law

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Gladys Meredith [Mary Webb]. Autograph letter signed, July 9 [1911], to Mrs. Thomas Webb, eight pages on two folded leaves. Webb expresses deep sorrow at the death of Mrs. Webb’s husband. She says that she went outside into the garden upon hearing the news because “. . . although I feel near to the unseen world and to Eternal Love in churches, I feel ten times nearer to them out of doors . . .” Webb says that she has been reading William James’s book, The Varieties of Religious Experience and, after praising James, says: “The chapter on mysticism is exceedingly beautiful I think, he gathers all mystics of every creed together and shows how much in sympathy they really are.” Webb adds: “I used to think, after father died, that waking in the morning was the hardest because I had been accustomed during his illness to walk down to his room which was just below mine, to see how he was.” Provenance: Frederick Baldwin Adams, Jr.