Metadata
Title
Sarah Josepha Hale to David E. Hale
Creator
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, 1788-1879
Date
1831-04-17
April 17, 1831
Medium
Manuscripts
Language
eng
Type
text
Collection
Sarah Josepha Hale Collection, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Identifier
46-M-137
Rights
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html
Text
Boston, April, 17 - 1831.
My dear Son - I have been delaying
my answer to your last, hoping
to have more leisure - but engagements
and duties are daily accumulating
so I will give you a few hasty
lines now, and by and by, a long letter
of advice.
You speak as tho' you did not
care to obtain a commission - Is
that your feeling? - and if so, what
business or profession are you
intending to pursue when you
shall graduate? It is time now to
decide - one half the time of your
scholarship will soon expire. I expectd [expected]
you would prefer a commission for
a few years at least, and if you
can graduate in the Artillery, and
be stationed in one of the cities, you
might have opportunities of improvement,
and pursue studies which would fit you
for a profession, ether [either] Law or Physic -
while you held a commission I do not
wish you to be confined to the army all
your life, but I shall want you to
reap some advantage from your
education; and I do not see any better
means than those I have suggested.
But perhaps you have other plans.
If so, I should like to hear them. You
must bear in mind, that application,
industry of some kind will be absolutely
essential to you because you have
no fortune on which to depend for
the support of a single year. I hope
in your next, you will be explicit,
and let me know what dreams of the
future are floating through your
mind. Remember I ask industry; perseverance,
and consistency if you -
but I do not wish to dictate the
manner in which these are to be exercised.
Pure morals and an honorable heart,
with the education you will possess, and
the advantages of friends I hope to
secure for you, will be a guarantee
for happiness and certainly afford [facilities?]
of success in the profession you
shall prosecute with energy.
I expect the little girls and Willey next
week, on Monday. O, how glad I shall
be - and now if you were here all
my children would be together - and
we would have a holy day. Well, next
summer I hope to see you and
your sisters together.
Horatio is well and bookish as
ever. Yours truly affectionate
Sara J. Hale
April 26 - My letter was mislaid and has
thus been kept a hand till your sisters
have reached Boston. They are in fine
health - and now, [?] you here I
should [?] all my children
in my own parlor. - O, I have some
news for you - Mr [Thayer?][Morten?] of the
High School for boys, (private school) has taken
Horatio to educate for the University free
of Expense - Horatio commenced his studies
yesterday - and Willey will stay in Boston &
attend the same school. Your Mother
For / Cadet David E. Hale
West Point
N. Y.
My dear Son - I have been delaying
my answer to your last, hoping
to have more leisure - but engagements
and duties are daily accumulating
so I will give you a few hasty
lines now, and by and by, a long letter
of advice.
You speak as tho' you did not
care to obtain a commission - Is
that your feeling? - and if so, what
business or profession are you
intending to pursue when you
shall graduate? It is time now to
decide - one half the time of your
scholarship will soon expire. I expectd [expected]
you would prefer a commission for
a few years at least, and if you
can graduate in the Artillery, and
be stationed in one of the cities, you
might have opportunities of improvement,
and pursue studies which would fit you
for a profession, ether [either] Law or Physic -
while you held a commission I do not
wish you to be confined to the army all
your life, but I shall want you to
reap some advantage from your
education; and I do not see any better
means than those I have suggested.
But perhaps you have other plans.
If so, I should like to hear them. You
must bear in mind, that application,
industry of some kind will be absolutely
essential to you because you have
no fortune on which to depend for
the support of a single year. I hope
in your next, you will be explicit,
and let me know what dreams of the
future are floating through your
mind. Remember I ask industry; perseverance,
and consistency if you -
but I do not wish to dictate the
manner in which these are to be exercised.
Pure morals and an honorable heart,
with the education you will possess, and
the advantages of friends I hope to
secure for you, will be a guarantee
for happiness and certainly afford [facilities?]
of success in the profession you
shall prosecute with energy.
I expect the little girls and Willey next
week, on Monday. O, how glad I shall
be - and now if you were here all
my children would be together - and
we would have a holy day. Well, next
summer I hope to see you and
your sisters together.
Horatio is well and bookish as
ever. Yours truly affectionate
Sara J. Hale
April 26 - My letter was mislaid and has
thus been kept a hand till your sisters
have reached Boston. They are in fine
health - and now, [?] you here I
should [?] all my children
in my own parlor. - O, I have some
news for you - Mr [Thayer?][Morten?] of the
High School for boys, (private school) has taken
Horatio to educate for the University free
of Expense - Horatio commenced his studies
yesterday - and Willey will stay in Boston &
attend the same school. Your Mother
For / Cadet David E. Hale
West Point
N. Y.