From Ex-Senator Benton to the Reverend Father de Smet.
As a token of affectionate regard and grateful acknowledgement for the consolations which, under God, he was the instrument of administering to a dying son, and making the death bed, at 22, a bed of flowers, and the transit from this world in the morning of life, (promising a bright day,) a scene of sweet and placid enjoyment, of confident hope, & thankfulness to God.
St. Louis, May, 1852
(archives of the de Smet d'Olbecke family)