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...
165From 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...
168From 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...
170From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 6 May 1818 (Adams Papers)
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...
171From 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...
172From 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...
Your Letter is this moment brought to me and would certainly have afforded me more pleasure could I perceive any of those evidences of a desire to improve in your hand writing about which you Know I am so solicitous— I have always been ready to rely on the promises of my children when they have been seriously made and give full confidence to yours more especially on account of the uneasiness I...
Why what is the matter my Son? surely when you wrote your last Letter you must have been suffering from a billious attack and saw every thing with a jaundiced eye? yet the Roast Beef and Plum Pudding seemed to pro duce such excellent effects I hope it was only a little qualm and does not require any very violent remedies—As to the Shirts I left some linen at Quincy which may be made for you...
The perpetual trouble and occupation we have found in getting into our new residence has prevented my writing to you my dear Charles and even now I have no subject on which to occupy your attention— The situation in which we found the House made it necessary to furnish almost entirely anew a large portion of the apartments and the whole time of John and my self has been engrossed in...
At length I feel well enough to write you again though I have no reason to hope that my correspondence will be renewed with any regularity for some time— Your Letters my dear boy would afford me much more pleasure if there was a less peremptory and positive tone about them—Be assured that it is always possible to be manly and respectful at the same time and that we can better show our...
179From John Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 12 January 1820 (Adams Papers)
I am much pleased with your frankness in relating the manners and customs of your School—talking playing and whistling are amusements not fit to be indulged or tolerated in the scene of Education for Youth—and you bear an honorable testimony in favour of your excellent School in Boston—I hope your Parents will bring you with them next Summer—and place you again at Mr Goulds most excellent...
I am very sorry my Dear Charles to find by your last Letter that your health is not good but am glad to see that your spirits are high and that you are tolerably happy—Johnson left us yesterday for Rockville and will probably not return very soon as he and I do not agree as well as we used to do—His opinions on politics and his great desire to see your father promoted to a higher station urge...
Your Letter is this moment brought me and I really cannot conceive what you mean my Dear Charles by John’s thirteen Letter a week or who the numerous correspondents can be from whom he receives them—I am perfectly sure that neither of you could take time to read them much less to answer them—The roads have been so bad that the course of the Mails has been much interrupted and I fear I have not...
I am very anxious about you my dear Boy as the time approaches for your visit and I pray both you and John to be usefull careful to have warm clothing and not to travel in the night—Your health is I hope entirely re-established for I should dread the idea of your undertaking such a journey—We shall have a merry winter in the House provided we can conduct ourselves tolerably well and mix...
I am much gratified to learn that you have made an agreeable acquaintance, and still more that the young friend you have chosen, is a boy of emulation—his fortune is of little consequence, as with talents & industry much may be done in this Country, and by constant application you may both attain honour and reputation—I have no doubt that you took pains to distinguish yourself at the...
I wrote you a very few lines yesterday my dear Charles, with a promise to write to you again immediately and more fully, but I fear that it will not be in my power to say all I wish to say, and for that you will thank your stars—In the first place let me beg you will not suffer Johnson to leave the house to sleep in his barn ; for the consequences might prove fatal to him—In the next let me...
You are right my Dear Charles to go Quincy for a few days to restore your health a little before the vacation and I am glad to hear that you have adopted the resolution although it may probably lose you a few marks on Mr. Hedge’s and other Lists—Your Brother George has just had a very dangerous illness the crisis of which passed last Eveng. and he is pronounced so much better to day we now...
Yours of the 30th. came to hand yesterday and I feel very uneasy concerning the fever you mention, and advise should it encrease, that you quit the College and return to Quincy—I hope however that it will subside, and that there will be no danger—I recommend you however at any rate , to get some good vinegar, and wash your hands and face with it two or three times a day, and sprinkle it about...
Your Letter my Dear Charles would cause me considerable uneasiness did I not know that you have the power of remedying largely the evils of which you complaint and that all you want is to exert that portion of resolution or will (which you Amply possess upon most points) to buckle too seriously and earnestly to your studies without suffering your most more pleasing avocations to draw you from...
Your two Cousins and John having left me at home and gone to pass the evening at Mrs. J Monro’s I shall devote some time to you by way of amusing myself and to find occupation as neither reading or writing are at present suited to my sight being almost blind— I really do not wonder you should have suffered uneasiness at hearing the poor child cough as I know nothing more distressing than the...
I know why it is but I write with so much difficulty and feel so much averse to undertake it I am ever procrastinating the answers to the Letters that are addressed to me this will account to you for h not having an answer to your last and though a miserable excuse must be accepted until something or other occurs to restore me to my wonted capacity and habits—I have the utmost reliance and...
Just returned from Virginia about 2 hours ago, I hasten to answer your Letter which your father gave me on my arrival, and expressing to you the deep sorrow I feel at the gloomy temper which still appears throughout the above mentioned Letter—At your age my Son this habit of fretting and complaining is peculiarly particularly to be avoided, as it acquires strength hourly, and renders your days...
191From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 19 January 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your new-years day Letter was received with much pleasure. I had heard something before, about your having had the Φ. Β. K. medal to wear for a week, and generally that Mr Gould was well satisfied with your attention to your studies, and with your good conduct; all which was very delightful to your mother and me—But it would have been still more agreeable if you had written that you continued...
192From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 15 September 1826 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 9th. instt. and now enclose a Check on the Branch Bank for 500 dollars payable to your order—With this you will repay the Coachman, his advances; repay to Mary Hellen the 50 dollars borrowed of her, and give the remainder to Antoine, for the purchase of winter fuel and other necessary payments. You and I will settle accounts when I return to Washington, which...
I yesterday received your Letter and could not help smiling at poor Shaws distress though I really do not see why he grieves about the Books. Surely he did not pretend to go want them for his Atheneum? If not why does it concern him?—Your Grandfather is the best judge of what is to be done and his advisers know best what they are after—He appears now to be in the hands of a Judge —I wont say a...
I have again received a Letter from you my Dear Charles which I hasten to answer at least to quiet your fears concerning my health which although I cannot say it is good is not such as to make you anxious or give serious cause for uneasiness— President Kirkland has written to your father concerning John and has announced dissmission and postponement of the Degree and I presume we shall have...
Your Letter came yesterday and was received with even more pleasure than they generally are from its amiable and grateful tenor. Every advancement you make in your education or rather in the mutual improvement of both mind and heart is an additional blessing to you and to us and you will feel the delight accruing from it in the pleasure derived from the expansion of your own intellect and...
Your Letter gave me much pleasure though I thought I perceived some few marks of carelessness and want of attention which I hope in time you will correct—Your father & myself are delighted to find that Mr Gould is so kind to you and that he is sufficiently satisfied with your progress to reward you thus publicly and I am sure you have too much ambition to improve and retain these marks of...
I could almost wish your Letters were filled with observations on any other books than Novels which I am afraid occupy more of your time than I think strictly good for you—However as you tell me that you find it too warm to read much now and that you intend to walk out in the evenings I will only say that I recommend you most earnestly to study something more worthy of you and more calculated...
Your two last Letters have come safely to hand and I am much pleased at your steadiness and punctuality in writing—I suppose that John’s approaching wedding takes so much of his time in necessary preparation, that he has not been able to pay due attention to his correspondents—Give my Love to him however and tell him I hope he is going to give me a dutiful and amiable Daughter who will make up...
Keep up your spirits my dear Son and do let the outrageous slanders and misrepresentations of the day make any impression on your mind as the very people are from whom the Slanders emanate acknowledge that they are only invented for electioneering purposes— A Presidential Election is becoming so fiery an Ordeal it will soon require more patience I had almost said more Virtue than falls to the...
In answer to your last Letter I can only say that I regret as much as you do the precipitation with which you left me although I am very confident you will derive much advantage from the change and the happiest results to your future peace of mind—As it regards your immediate situation your father and myself mutually disapprove your plan of Boarding in your chamber alone and would much prefer...
The observations which you make in your Letter to me of the 29 March on the Books you have been reading are just and prove that you derive advantage from your application, and that you digest, and reflect upon the subject of your at author There is a striking similarity between that part of Scottish Chiefs which you mention and Telemachus and from both these much instruction is to be...
I hasten to answer your last my Dear Charles as I cannot bear your reproaches which I feel I merit for my total want of exertion—The complaint under which I am labouring however must plead my excuse as it entirely incapacitates those who are subjected to it from performing all active duties by debilitating both mind and body to a degree of almost imbecility— I am happy to learn that you are...
It is an old fashion thus to begin a Letter but there is something so pleasant in the spontaneous feeling which dictates the words, that I write or indeed find them written, ere I am aware that my Letter is begun; so that tho’ fashion is a tyrant ruler, and I generally submit with very good will to its sway, reason sometimes (not often) as you once observed takes the lead, and nolens volens...
204From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 7 December 1823 (Adams Papers)
I have duly considered your affectionate Letter of the 25th. of last Month, and shall be glad to see you here , during your approaching vacation—I will direct your brother George to furnish you the money, necessary for the journey, and assure you of the cordial welcome which I hope and trust will always endear your father’s house to you as your home . I do not altogether understand that part...
205From John Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 21 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
I now hope to see you, after 8 years Absence. I cannot write you a formal Letter. You have a kind of fame for a facility of learning Languages. Let me caution you against indulging that Curiosity too much. Languages are a boundless and unfathomable Ocean. Greek and Latin and Arithmatick and Geometry are your most proper Studies at present. French and Italian and German will be easy here after...
The character you give of your friend Dawes is so pleasing, that I am much rejoiced at your having met such a friend, and I hope your friendship will prove as durable as the good qualities on which it is founded—The adventures of a Fancy must be very amusing from your extract, and the moral appears to be excellent—It shews you that you must never do evil in the hope that good may come of it,...
What is the reason you do not write me? Are you determined to relinquish all intercourse with your Mother or are your avocations so very severe arduous that you cannot find a little time to devote to me—Commencement now approaches fast are there any very distinguished scholars in the present Class or is it to be very mesquin? George is quite pleased with our Washington Summer contrary to his...
Well, Charles, how comes on the file? is yours as big as John’s? are your walks so delightful you cannot get one moment of time to write me? or are you so busy in giving your french Lessons to your friend Dawes that you are obliged to decline my correspondence?—I am so perfectly sure that you have some very good reason for your silence I by no means wish to reproach you—But as it is long time...
209From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 6 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
Why will you give way to despondence? the time you have been at College has been too short in any way to decide upon your Scholarship and you should not dwell too much upon your standing as long as you exert yourself to improve it—I am told that it is not customary to let young men know any thing about it for fear of exciting jealousy therefore you cannot ascertain what is perfectly immaterial...
John in his last Letter to me tells me that you make a secret of my Letters to you and will not let him see them—I did not think you were so boyish more especially since you have become a Sophomore—Do not then embitter by such nonsense the hours you have to spend together and be assured that the affection of your Mother is so equally divided between her Sons that each is the equal object of...