A 130-year-old letter hidden in the Bible is reunited with descendants (3 photos)

Marie Racine accidentally found an old letter in a store that touched on the life of a man named Henry Harris.





A letter sent in London ended up 4,700 kilometers away in a second-hand store in Campbell River, Canada. The 1880 Bible with the letter inside caught Marie Racine's attention when she accidentally found it in the store and decided to buy it as an antique.

Upon returning home, Racine found a letter dated 1894 that touched on a man named Henry Harris. Addressed to his daughter Irene, he thanked her for her care, described his deteriorating condition, and sent his love to his grandchildren, adding that "summer will soon be brighter."

To learn more about the letter, Racine turned to the Reddit community. Users helped decipher the text and identify the author of the letter, who turned out to be Dr. Henry Harris, a respected physician and member of the Liberal Party who died of tuberculosis in 1895. One user found Harris's direct descendant, his great-granddaughter Leslie, whom Marie Racine contacted.



According to Leslie, reading the letter written by her great-grandfather evoked deep emotions. She also learned many new details about him, such as that he was called "the little doctor" due to a congenital spinal disorder.

Racine decided to give Leslie the Bible and the letter, refusing to accept payment for the return of the family heirloom. Enclosing a personal note as a gift from herself, she sent the book back to its original owners, adding that she was doing it for good karma.



One Reddit user was able to run the letter through AI software, which confirmed what was written. The contents painted a vivid picture of one man's struggle:

"My dear Irene, Thank you for your letter and flowers - almost the last breath of summer. I am better, but very weak and shaking. Of course it is a longer shock than sixteen years ago - but I hope to hold out a little longer. I completely forgot about your birthday this year and only did so at an inopportune moment. I was very ill then.

Tell the children that I am always glad to hear from them, that I am glad to hear that Charlie has settled down at work, and trust that everything will be smooth and successful for him.

(P.S. I think this summer has been a friend to me - I have not been far away, and have really been ill since mid-July - Perhaps things will soon be much brighter again.) I have not written much yet. It is one of the most inconvenient things about my illness - the difficulty in writing. With love to Tom and all the little ones."