To scatter kind words and loving deeds,
Still trusting in God completely.
A volume of this kind, it is supposable, will be more or less frequently referred to, in future years, to revive fading recollections and recall pleasant associations; and, therefore, though it is so easy to moralize, it seems eminently fitting that helpful suggestions should accompany familiar autographs.
Let me say, then, that while in your youth a favorable combination of circumstances permits so much of happiness, the conditions of its enjoyment cannot always remain as now.
As the responsibilities, at present borne for you, shall come to rest on your own shoulders, and the darker shades of life’s history are unfolded, you will find the peace, which floweth like a river, only in the degree in which you resolutely perform every known duty; and, forgetting your own wants—whether fancied or real—devote your thoughts, as well as your energies, to making the society in which you move, happier for your being.
That you may indulge in no selfish ease; but bestow, as well as enjoy, a full share of the pleasures of time, and afterward receive a crown of glory, is the earnest wish of your friend—
I would that I could express my mind
To you, dear friend, in scribbling some rhyme;