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This is a duty. which I know, should have been performed long since. Yet I write to some one of the girls. at home. every alternate mail, and I have the idea of home connected so intimately, with yourself, that I forgot that I was neglecting a parent, who has the first claim on all my actions.
The time has now arrived, when I begin to appreciated your Kindness, in offering
an education. and the benefits to be derived from one. Indeed I may say that a
complete change has been wrought in my ideas of what is right & what is
wrong. I have determined to be something & not to leave this world. to
be remembered as one, who came into it merely to enjoy its sweets & to
submit to its misfortunes, & then to leave it, without one deed, which
may have had a happy influence. on some fellow being. No I begin to despise the
poor wretches, who are here spending their parents hard
earned money. without deriving one single benefit from it. but one the other
hand, are contracting such habits of vice & dissapation. as will heap
miserey on their own heads, & cause them to be a disgrace to their
friends. And here. dear father, I cannot help but notice the revolutions. which
have occured in my notions concerning to God, every night, that he may give me his
grace that I may prove a blessing to those kind parents, who have toiled so
much, & reaped, as yet, so little benefit from their labours.
The time will shortly come. when I shall be forced to leave college, when I shall
glide from the quiet labours of a college life, into the bustle &
confusion of the world. and I begin to consider what shall be my occupation in
future life. however I have resolved to leave this point to be settled by a kind
parent, who is so much
Gov.
Dr
s ferry
We have also formed a private class. on botany. We are making some collections of
flowers & the girls, at home, are making, for us, a herbarium. I have their book. but they have written for it. so you
will please to purchase one for me, "sr
s
You are very anxious to reach home. I expect. after having been absent for so
long. You will please to let us know when you will pass through, in order that
we may see you. at the tavern. Give my best respects to s