Letter to Peter Parley,
AND HIS ANSWER.
Belleville, Gloucester county, Va.,
March 26th, 1844.
Dear Mr. Parley:
I am very much interested in your little book on the sun, moon, and stars; I understand it very well. The last lesson I read was about the centrifugal and centripetal forces. I have read a good many of your books of Asia, Africa, Europe, the Christmas Gift, and your magazine.
I should like to have accompanied you in your journeys on the terrestrial and celestial globes; were you not afraid of being melted in Mercury and freezing in Uranus? I think I should have been.
I have lately been reading the history of Virginia, which is the state in which I live. I think it very interesting. It tells when the state was first settled, and it gave me a great deal of information about the colonies. I did not know of Nathaniel Bacon, or the rebellion which he caused, before I read the book, although he lived and died within a few miles of our house. His remains were buried in Petsworth church. Nor did I know, before I read the history, that Charles 2d’s coronation robe was woven in Gloucester county.
You may be sure I was very glad to have a knowledge of such facts. The Virginians were very loyal subjects, and would have continued so, had it not been for the manner in which they were treated by the king and his parliament.
Are you a whig or a democrat? Mr. Parley, do you think we shall ever have as good a president as Washington? I fear not, but hope we may. Mr. Parley, where did you acquire so much information as you have given your little readers? My brother, who went to Cambridge College, says he has often passed your house; if I had been in his place, I would have stepped in and made your acquaintance. I am for Mr. Clay.
I wish you would write a book on mythology. I would like to know something more than I do of the heathen gods. I have read a good deal of them, but not by you. Your method being so good to convey information, furnishes a reason why I should like to read a book on this subject by you. I have seen your geography, and think it very good for youth; it gives such a good description of the earth.