My dear Father,
Dearly as I love my noble profession, I am unable to resist your last earnest appeal, and agree therefore to give up my commission, and return to a life on land. The pang this resolution costs me is softened by the remembrance that I may thus hope to ensure the happiness of so good a father.
I shall shortly return to you, and will endeavour in all things to prove
Your most dutiful and affectionate son, ______
A Letter from a Father to a Son at School, on the necessity of attention to his Studies.
Mudiford, January 28th, 187-
My dear Boy,
Now you have returned to school it is my duty to point out to you how absolutely necessary it is for your future success that you should persevere in your studies, more especially if you wish to leave college (for which you are destined) with honour. Do not be carried away with the natural love of ease and pleasure, but accustom yourself at once to really hard work. If you cannot reconcile yourself to do so in your youth you will be unable to do so as you grow older, and you will become incapable of achieving anything great. Application may be difficult at first, but when once you have accustomed yourself to it you will find study pleasant, easy, and agreeable, and in years to come you will be well repaid for the toil and trouble you now undergo. What can be pleasanter than to find yourself at the head of your school, leaving all competitors behind? what more gratifying than to give pleasure to your father and mother, and to obtain the admiration and approval of your teachers? That, dear boy, will be your reward if you study constantly and patiently; but if you neglect the opportunities offered to you now, your future life will be nothing but disquietude, and you will grow up ignorant, and be despised. Pay attention to my advice, and work in the morning of your days. With your mother's best love and mine,