James Buchanan.
[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. C. E. BENNETT.]
Wheatland, near Lancaster, October 29, 1862.
My Dear Sir:—
I have this moment received your letter of the 25th instant, informing me that a number of ladies and gentlemen of Cincinnati had formed themselves into a reading club, and had honored me by adopting a resolution calling it after my name. I need not say how much this token of their regard has touched the heart of an old public servant in retirement. It shall be gratefully remembered.
The association, conducted with wise and persevering effort, cannot fail to prove highly useful both to its own members and to society. The solitary reading of an individual for mere pastime is of comparatively little value either to himself or to others. The information thus acquired soon passes away, and is forgotten, unless fixed upon the memory and impressed upon the heart by an interchange of opinions with congenial spirits. The participation of ladies in the duties of the association is calculated to exercise the most happy influence. It will promote refinement, religion and morality among its members.
May the “Buchanan Reading Club” flourish and produce good fruit long after he, whose name it bears, shall have been gathered to his fathers.
Yours very respectfully,
James Buchanan.
[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]