1From John Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 17 August 1825 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for a very pleasant letter, and I supplicate a continuance of them—I have given up the hopes of seeing the family, or any part of it this Year—but when the Marquis is gone I hope to have letters from your Brother, John, and yourself, which will help to keep up my old spirits a little longer, my heart & wishes and Prayers are with you forever—We have nothing to tell you here but...
It is a long time since I wrote you as I have again been very sick and utterly unable to put pen to paper—You may therefore readily imagine that I have nothing to write about any more than yourself as I have had nothing whatever to do with the great world for some time who are kind enough to believe me sick in consequence of the Presidential question—I will acknowledge that it is of a nature...
Your Letter my caused me a mixture of feelings some pleasing some painful the latter because there is an evidence of a temper little calculated to promote the success of your wishes and evincing a disposition to rebel against your fathers order which must end unhappily to yourself—Be assured my dear Son that industry obedience and application will produce the best effects and that while you...
Regularity and method are so essential to the acquisition of real knowledge that the little annoyance of the Bell is a trifle to the good consequences which its sound produces when it reminds you that certain duties are to be performed at certain times—The human mind requires an incessant spur or stimulus to invigorate its action or more properly speaking to force it into certain channels...
Your dear Mother not long since received a Letter from you, in which I read with great pleasure, that you get on at School pretty fast, and that in three weeks you hope to begin College Studies—As it is just three weeks since you wrote that Letter; if your hopes have been fulfilled you will this very day begin upon your College studies; and Oh! how happy shall I be, if you can hereafter write...
Being better to day my dear Charles I hasten to write to you fearful if I delay that a Chill and another attack of fever should prevent me and deprive you of hearing how George comes on—We are at present very anxious on account of a violent spasmodic affection of the muscles which are very considerably contracted and make it impossible to straighten the arm—he moves the fingers but cannot hold...
I was delighted with your Letter and was only sorry you did not mention your health, which I understand has been very indifferent, and which causes me the most serious anxiety: write me I entreat you and beg your good friend Harriet, to write me what your complaint has been, and if you have any cough, I wish you to take the yolk of a new laid egg alone in a spoon every morning when you first...
I am rejoiced my Dear Charles to learn that your journey was so pleasant and that the little accident you met with was soon repaired so much to your satisfaction— That you must be very busy I am well aware but the division of your time will render all your occupations easy and I hope your health of which you now complain will soon be entirely restored— I am much better than I was and intend if...
What sort of a Letter was your last and how is it to be answered? to be angry with you is impossible to sympathize with you equally so, and to pity you is showing a degree of contempt for your understanding mortifying to your feelings and wounding to my own. Are you aware that you sent your Letter to the Post without a wafer and that it arrived in that state at your fathers office? do not my...
You tell me in your last Letter that “you believe you did not write to me, because you had not received a Letter from me” I think you have in some of your former Letters mentioned that you kept a book in which you copied them; by refering to this book you would be able to know positively how the matter stood. but at any rate you must not be so punctilious as to wait for a Letter from me but...
11From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 14 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
A very few days after my arrival in this City, I received your Letter of 19. September, the contents of which I dare say you have before this time forgotten; unless you kept a copy of it, as you remember you used to do, of the Letters that you wrote to me from St. Petersburg, when I was at Ghent. This Letter of yours of 19. September last, I have kept upon my file, ever since I received it;...
I received yesterday my dear Charles your Letter of the 4th. and hasten to answer it as I really feel anxious lest the heated atmosphere in which you appear to have lived for the last week or two should produce have a bad effect and produce the fever which is so common at Cambridge towards the end of a term and generally so frightfully infectious— We are much obliged to you for the information...
Your Letter of the 10th. my Dear Charles afflicted me very much as it still betrayed the same spirit which has already cost your brother so much and which if not timely quelled may end in crimes at which my soul shudders with horror—Let me ask you once more, are you or any of the young person’s who are at College while your passions are excited to fury I say are you capable of judging...
Since my return home my Dear George Charles I have been so much engaged it has been almost impossible for me to write more especially as I have been even more sick than ever and even my intellect seems to suffer from these constant attacks— Genl La Fayette has passed through our City and like all Meteoric lights has illumed our horizon for a few days and I fear darkened many of the pockets of...
I am afraid that you read my letters in as great a hurry as you appear to do every thing else otherwise I cannot conceive how it is possible you should pretend to understand that I ever counselled you to become acquainted with dissipated Characters after I knew them to be such—When I wrote to you concerning it—I knew but little of him and only partially recommended him to your notice as he...
Our winter routine has begun and as usual I am plunged into the depths of visits invitations dinners &c &c &c— It is singular just after reading Randolph that I should have become acquainted with the supposed Author of the Work and that his conversation should have produced conviction in me that the supposition is not incorrect—Speaking of the Painters I could have fancied I was reading the...
At last my dear Charles I find a moment of leisure to address you not having had a moment since you left us disengaged from company—We have been out every night and the parties have generally been pleasant Mrs. Calhoun’s was an imitation of ours but did not take the Miss Roberdeau’s Miss Pleasanton Miss McKnight Miss Selby and one other whose name I have forgotten—They were all dressed...
As Mr. Pope is so good as to offer to convey your skates to Boston I have siezed the opportunity of writing you a few lines in answer to your Letter my dear Charles which was very gratifying to me as it afforded ample proofs of your being good at school by the compliment so handsomely paid you by Mr. Gould—Such a compliment when it is addressed by a person in the capacity of a master or...
When I left you I did not think you were so soon to assume the sacerdotal vestment but I sincerely congratulate you on having even the external appearance of that which I so much advise and of course cannot wish to shorten the term which places you in so respectable a light— That you should be eclipsed is not remarkable at all—but that you should make great exertions to shine by your own light...
Your last Letter my dear Charles quite revived my spirits as it re-assured me concerning yours which had really alarmed me and your father very much We are in the depths of distress on another account which is the removal of your Uncle and Aunt Smith to Pensacola where he is appointed Naval Officer a place which it is expected will become very valuable at present he is to have 1000 Dollars a...
Still in this City I again write you and probably for the last time until I get home—Your last Letter pleased me very much I discovered more attention to composition and an easier and more correct style than in any before received—Your time will now however be so constantly occupied that you will have but little leisure to form a continued correspondence with me but I shall expect to hear from...
As I hear there has been a great fall of snow during the last week or two in Boston I suppose you have seen many of those booby huts which you wrote me about last winter and perhaps have rode in one—I am not fond of them for they are apt to make me sea sick and should like much better to have a pretty Russian Traineau— As it is also the season for skating I must renew my cautions both to John...
I have been so sick with the Influenza it has not been possible to write independent of which the perpetual round of dissippation in which I have lived seems to have deadened all my faculties and destroyed all the little gleam of light which was wont to illumine my ideas when I wished to throw them on paper—Party’s of every description being done with there is not a word of news stirring and...
The Mail is this moment arrived and as I am at leisure I hasten to answer your Letter which is a very good one if it had been a little more legible to read.—Hard things to get at are we know often thought more valuable but Enigma’s but would be worthless if we never discovered their meaning—I therefore again pray you to attend to your hand writing and to write a large hand which will correct...
I enclose you a Letter from one of your young correspondents which was received a few days after your departure and which I suppose you would regret very much to lose. In taking the Desk which your Brother lent you I want to know what you did with the papers which were in it among which the two Contracts of Mr. Van Coble were placed and I am very much concerned at not being able to find them...
26From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 3 October 1822 (Adams Papers)
It is long since I had the pleasure of writing to you or of receiving a Letter from you; yet there has not been a day when you have been absent from my mind and from my heart. I learnt with sorrow and great anxiety that you had been sick, and hope that you have entirely recovered. The accounts that I received of your proficiency were that you had improved in your standing with the Class, and...
I have just received your little and your big Letter, and return you many thanks for both, which gave me infinite pleasure—As I am not at the head of so large a literary Institution as Mr. Shaw, I am not so fastidious in my taste; and find your production very good, considering the circumstances under which it was written: and I have no doubt, that altho’ it was full of defects as to the...
28From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 13 August 1826 (Adams Papers)
I received in due time your Letter of the 1st. instt. from New–York; since which Letters from your mother have informed me of your progress to Fishkill Landing, and the Newspapers of your arrival at Albany—I ardently hope your mother’s health will derive more benefit from the Springs than it appears she has from the journey—We are expecting by the next Mail to hear of your reaching Lebanon— I...
During my long absence from home my Dear Charles I could not write to you as it was difficult to procure conveniences for the purpose business and the chambers were not furnished in a suitable manner for those purposes— I am happy to learn from John that you are well and in very good spirits and I hope that the Commencement will pass without any unpleasant occurrence—I am very glad that Thomas...
I was much pleased to observe that you had taken more pains with the writing of your last Letter than you generally do and sincerely thank you for it as all these things prove your affection for me much more strongly than could possibly be manifested by any other method and immeasurably encrease maternal affection by adding esteem to the strong ties of nature—You have yet but little idea of a...
31James Madison to Charles Francis Adams, 12 October 1835 (Madison Papers)
private I have received your letter of Sepr. 30th. with a copy of "An Appeal from the new to the Old Whigs." The Pamphlet contains very able and interesting views of its subject. The claims for the Senate of a share in the removal from Office; and for the legislature an authority to regulate its tenure, have had powerful advocates. I must still think however, that the text of the constitution...
We yesterday went fishing for the first time and to my great astonishment on looking up our Tackle found your rod or rather part of it as Mr. Philip appears to have injured very much and lost one of the peics—It answered the purpose however very and Mary had the benefit of it—Had I known it was not in your Trunk I should have sent it on with the Gun and am very sorry it was omitted I can find...
The easy manner in which you appear to take your College studies is diverting to me I confess but notwithstanding all your boast’s I flatter myself I shall assist at your Commencement with as much pleasure as I anticipate at John’s—The effect that your brothers success has produced upon your fathers spirits is such as to produce the greatest emulation in his Children for he has recovered his...
How I wish I could divide myself and fly to nurse you my poor Boy—If your Uncle had not still to suffer one or more operations you would see me as soon as the Boats could convey me to you—Your sad picture of the ennui which you endured is striking but I hope you benefited from your study of the rights of Woman which spite of the prejudices existing against Miss Woolstoncroft are undeniable and...
35From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 4 December 1824 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 25th. ulto. and very cheerfully comply with your desire to come and pass your vacation with us. On your shewing this Letter to your brother George, it will be an authority for him to pay you sixty dollars; additional to your stated allowance; to defray the expenses of your journey hither, taking your receipt for the same. I am your affectionate father MHi :...
Poor Mariano is dead. On Sunday Even’—he was sitting reading the new Tragedy of Lord Byron when he laid the Book down and marked the page being as it is supposed siezed with the Cramp and ran across the street to his friend’s room for assistance across the exclaiming to have his arm cut I suppose meaning to be bled—The people thought him crazy and he died immediately after speaking these...
I am very sorry my dear Charles that any thing in my last Letter should have wounded your feelings as it was very far from my wish or intention to say any that thing that could intimate so absurd a charge as I have hitherto found you more docile than youths of your age generally are. I hope you propose to pass your vacation at Quincy as I think it will give pleasure to your Grandfather to whom...
Your two last Letters would have given me much pleasure if they had been more easy to decypher and I must sieze the present opportunity of assuring You that as a correspondent of mine you must endeavour to improve your hand writing which is at present such as to do you no credit and almost impossible for me to read—I question if it would have been easy to me in my best days but now that my...
You Letter was brought two days since, and I should have received it with the same pleasure your Letters have always given me, had I not perceived a great falling off in the hand writing, which surprized and grieved me a little; as I had always flattered myself that with due attention and constant practice, you would write a very handsome hand and with great facility—do not my dear child by a...
I received your Letter my Dear Charles yesterday Eveng. and hasten to answer it from the apprehension that some expressions in your Letter indicate a sort of temper to the Col Tutors which may become dangerous although at this moment it may be harmless—Words of strong signification brought into familiar use frequently I believe produce effects which we have no idea of while using them and...
41From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 18 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have learnt from some of the Letters which you have lately written to your Mother and your Brother, that you express yourself dissatisfied with your situation at the University, and that you have repeatedly intimated the desire of leaving it— My motive in placing you there, was to furnish you with the means of passing through life in the exercise of a liberal profession—By debarring yourself...
Your Letter full of complaints my dear Charles reached me yesterday and I am sorry to see you indulge still in a querrulous disposition but a little intercourse with young men I still flatter myself will cure you therefore I shall say nothing farther on the subject— Your Trunk I sent on about ten days since and hope as it was addressed to the care of Mr Cruft you have received it safe with the...
Your Shandean Letter is received with all its apologies and few amendments I will only say that you must remember excuses are inadmissible unless they are precursers of improvement— I shall wait your dissertation with impatience from the specimen already sent it will call for some exertion to understand it. You have siezed with considerable humour the broken method of Stern and I give you...
44From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 28 October 1822 (Adams Papers)
In replying to your Letter of the 12th. instt. I might begin, by asking an explanation if its first paragraph—You say that you was taught to think when you came back from Europe, that your Letters were only an incumbrance—It has always given me pleasure to receive Letters from you, and I cannot imagine to what you refer in your supposition to the contrary—If the assurance is necessary from me...
Eh b’en Mon petit Caporal honours seem to thicken so fast on Adams race we can scarce find time to greet or congratulate ere a new event occurs to call forth our gratitude. Well chaqu’un a son tour. And now it is my turn to be brought before the publick by the classic pen of Mr. Colvin or some of his Satellites with the kind intention of blackening the reputation of your father!!! and what is...
Is it because I have not answered your last Letter my dear Charles that you have not written to me? or is it because you are not so attentive as you used to be and devote too much time to novel reading? I hope not the latter as I am inclined to think that much of this sort of reading has a tendency to weaken the judgement, and to create an artificial taste, and what is worse an artificial and...
47From John Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 3 December 1825 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your two letters—and I wish you would continue to write to me twice a week—my dear Charles Mathematicks and Law are the two rocks on which a Man of business may surely found his reputation, as well as his capacity for doing good, to himself, his friends, his country, as well as to mankind. Study my dear Charles makes the man. It is not novels or Poetry It is neither Scott or...
48From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 12 June 1824 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters of 21. February and 6. April, have remained long unanswered—They are both upon Subjects important to your feelings and prospects, and therefore highly important to me—But independent of the occupations which press so heavily upon my time, the tenour of the first of them, written so soon after you had left us, required some deliberation from me to answer it in the Spirit of the...
Your papa was much pleased with your Letter as it was very prettily written and the style was tolerably good with a little attention you will very soon write a good and handsome hand and I hope that you will equally improve in all the other branches of education concerning which both your father and myself are so anxious— I am very sorry to learn from a Letter from your grandmama that your...
Your brother my Dear Charles is much better and his arm doing well though it will probably be a long time before it will be of any use to him. He is entirely without fever and his health in consequence of leaving off tobacco in all its forms is better than it has been a long time. Both his Surgeons have agreed that he is undermining and destroying his Constition which cannot support any...