To Rev. Doctor Allyn, Duxbury, Mass.
Watertown, September 28, 1826.
Dear and respected Sir,--Many times hath the spirit moved me to address thee by letter, but much fear of thy wisdom hath hitherto prevented.
It is not that my reverence for thee hath at all decreased, that I now take up my pen to follow my own inclinations, but because thine absent daughter hath imposed it upon me as a duty.
Thou knowest well that Si Possum is not always more heedful of the voice of conscience than of her own will, and therefore thou wilt conclude, and very justly withal, that personal affection and respect for thyself doth greatly move her thereunto.
A plague on Quaker style.
It gives my pen the numb palsy to write in thees and thous.
You have no doubt heard from Abba often, since she began her journey.
I miss them sadly.
I come home from school, tired to death with nouns and verbs, and I find the house empty, swept, and garnished, with not a single indication of animated existence except the cat, who sits in the window from morning till night, winking at the sun. That is to say, when the sun is to be winked at; for during the whole of this equinoctial week, the skies have looked like a tub of cold suds.
The only variety is to go to church on Sunday, and hear the young Cambridgians talk of “the turpitude of vice, and the moral dignity of virtue.”
Do I not remember your sayings well?
By the way, have you determined yet whether there is the most of good or evil about me? . . .
What do you do with yourself in these days?
Hold high converse with Plato, or feed your sheep
[10]
with turnips?
Snarl with Diogenes, or laugh at neighbor Paris and his Sampson's riddle?
I wish I could pop down upon you, 1and enjoy one or two quiet days, but quiet does not seem to be in reserve for me. “How can you expect it,” you will say, “when you are always engaged on some mad-cap enterprise or other?
When Hobomoks, Rebels, Miscellanies, succeed each other, thick as hail?”
Do you remember, Doctor Allyn, that four years ago you promised me a long letter?
An honest man will never refuse to pay an outlawed debt.
My Miscellany succeeds far beyond my most sanguine expectations.
That is, people are generous beyond my hopes. 