Dear father
boards
and which is the best place in the village it is a very good house and I
have think I shall board as long as I
stay here;
Mr Bingham
tried to get my board a doctor
Caldwell's
but his wife being sick
I cou he could not take me. I am in very
good health and have not been sick since I got clear of that coald. It is very
healthy here and there are very few people sick; there is a great drought in
this part of the contry and it is thought there will not be more than half
crops made there has not been
rainexcept within a few days a sufficcent quantity of
rain in a-bout three months.
is a very hard student he studies nearly all day and very late at
night and I am glad to say that he studies to some purpose he about the best
scholar in his class and it is very likely that he will speak the latin speach
which is a great honour. When I left
Hillsborough for
Chapel
Hill
Mr Bingham
gave me 80 dollars to bear my expenses for the
present session and told me if I I required more he would give it
to me, but I feel a diffidence in asking or
writting to him for money which I would not feel by applying to you and I being
no more his scholar it would be as well for me nex session to get the money
from you that is if it accords with your m wishes it is now now about ten Oclock and I must go to bed
and end my letter by telling you good night please
give my love to
Grand ma and and
respects to all my acquaintaencesI shall ever your affectionate and dutiful son
speech before the
dielectic and
Philanthropic societies.2
Direct you your letters to
Chapel
Hill.
/
Cool
Spring/
N.C."; "mail" appears in the lower left
corner, "CH" in the upper left corner, and the postage "18
1/4" in the upper right corner. A circular postmark has been stamped to
the left of the address; it reads "CHAPLHILL
N.C." and "AU," but the date is unrecovered.
The number (or date) 1.832 appears at the far left edge of the envelope face.
The letter previously has been published in Lemmon 2:175-76.
had been chosen by the
Philanthropic Society to deliver the commencement
address before the two societies. A slave holder,
Gaston
nevertheless believed that "it is Slavery
which, more than any other cause, keeps us back in the career of improvement.
It stifles industry and represses enterprize—it is fatal to economy and
providence—it discourages skill—impairs our strength as a
community, and poisons morals at the fountain head" (14).