{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/manifest","@type":"sc:Manifest","label":"David E. Hale to Sarah Josepha Hale","description":"&#8220;David E. Hale to Sarah Josepha Hale,&#8221; <em>Athenaeum of Philadelphia Featured Collections</em>, accessed May 19, 2026, <span class=\"citation-url\">http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/show/3308</span>.","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1846/full/334%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1846","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"attribution":"The Athenaeum of Philadelphia","within":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/collections/presentation/10/manifest","metadata":[{"label":"Title","value":"David E. Hale to Sarah Josepha Hale"},{"label":"Date","value":["1829-11-19","November 19, 1829"]},{"label":"Subject","value":"Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, 1788-1879"},{"label":"Medium","value":"Manuscripts"},{"label":"Language","value":"eng"},{"label":"Type","value":"text"},{"label":"Is Part Of","value":"Sarah Josepha Hale Collection, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia"},{"label":"Identifier","value":"46-M-178"},{"label":"Rights","value":"http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html"},{"label":"Text","value":"West Point Nov 19. 1829\r\n\r\nMy dear Mother\r\n\r\nYou wish me to write to you often.\r\nI shall endeavour for the future to comply with your\r\nrequest yet whenever I attempt to write I generally\r\nproduce such puerile letters that I am ashamed to send\r\nthem. I have actually been trying almost every day\r\nfor this last month to write to you and have several\r\ntimes abandoned the attempt in despair.\r\nYou say I must attend to the study of the dead\r\nlanguages, they have been dead to me for the last four months\r\nfor I have not read a dozen lines in the Latin or Greek.\r\nIndeed I have but barely time sufficient to get Mathematical\r\nand French lessons. We are in the recitation rooms\r\nabove four hours and Military duty [etc.] take up a great part \r\nof the time, thus we [?] have eight hours to study and \r\nread. There are but very few who get their lessons perfectly,\r\nthat is, who can[DE: not] answer questions which [have?]\r\nany bearing on the lesson; and to do this they are obliged\r\nto consult other books on the subject in short they must\r\nknow as much about it as their professors. Although I\r\nthought before I came here that I had studied hard yet\r\nI find the difficulty in the study of the languages is nothing\r\nin comparison with that of Mathematicks. In the former\r\nmemory and very ordinary talents are required; in the later\r\n[DE: a] invention, a mind suited to the study, and above all industry.\r\nYou wish me to write about my friends, their characters,\r\n[etc.] I rank Frank Vinton as the first not only because\r\nI became acquainted with him first, but also because\r\n\r\nhe is the finest young man in the Academy. He stands \r\nfourth in the first class and is regarded as [being] [DE: ?] better\r\nacquainted with literature than any one in his class.\r\nHe is my friend not so much for my sake alone as for\r\nyours, that is he likes me as the son of Mrs Hale Editress [etc.]\r\ntherefore you are bound to think as highly of him as I do.\r\nHe is the orator in the Dialectic Society. This Society is a sort \r\nof club among the Cadets intended to perfect the [them] in declamation\r\nwriting [DE: ?] [etc.]\r\nyour promise of sending some books is most\r\nagreeable to me. There is nothing I like so well as reading an\r\nentertaining book after laborious study. It gives me new relish\r\nfor my studies. We shall begin Geometry next week. I never\r\nstudied it you know, and therfore [therefore] cannot tell whether I shall\r\nsucceed as well in it as I have done in Algebra. As you say\r\nyou wish me to get a respectable standing in my class perhaps\r\nyou will be glad to learn that I am in the first section in both\r\nFrench and Mathematicks. This last study study suits me better\r\nthan the Latin though I shall devote my [DE: spare] spare\r\ntime to it. I am glad to hear that my sisters are well and happy\r\nand that Horatio is contented. Give my love to William and tell\r\nhim if he wishes to see a camp and real soldiers he must come\r\nhere next summer with you.\r\nYour Son\r\nD.E. Hale\r\n\r\n"}],"sequences":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/sequence/normal","@type":"sc:Sequence","label":"Current Page Order","viewingDirection":"left-to-right","viewingHint":"non-paged","canvases":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p1","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[1]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1845/full/334%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1845","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2512,"height":3005,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/annotation/p0001-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/052ed785fc0aebfbe8b4b81d3d9ba865.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2512,"height":3005,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1845","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p1"}]},{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p2","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[2]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1846/full/334%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1846","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2512,"height":3005,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/annotation/p0002-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/34c3ee0295515de0451da27ba616885e.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2512,"height":3005,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1846","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p2"}]},{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p3","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[3]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1847/full/325%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1847","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2409,"height":2961,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/annotation/p0003-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/0bb46152d1cf16058883a498979df59d.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2409,"height":2961,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1847","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p3"}]},{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p4","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[4]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1848/full/328%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1848","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2430,"height":2963,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/annotation/p0004-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/9861ac4cd119dfa6b84bbcdecdc5d92e.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2430,"height":2963,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1848","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3308/canvas/p4"}]}]}]}