have procured the largest church in the city for this evening.
My love and a kiss for Nannie. . . . Love to all hands. God bless you, my child, is daily the prayer of
Your affectionate father,
*****
How does Dick come on with the drawing? I am so afraid he is becoming too reserved. Perhaps the wish may be unreasonable, but it is a very earnest one! that my children should treat me not only as their father and as their friend, but as their companion too, in so far as companionship may not be inconsistent with difference of age. . . .
Good-bye, and may God bless you and make you happy, my child!
First letter to his daughter Diana after her marriage to Mr. S. W. Corbin, of Farleyvale (Virginia),
| My dear Nannie, | Observatory, May 9th, 1858. |
Yours was a sweet letter; it and Mr. Corbin's did our hearts much good. We miss you so much; the flowers look lonesome, and the songs of the birds sound loud.
This is little Lucy's birthday—seven years old. It will be ten years, I reckon, before she will be coming out. Her Mamma pitched into her and the boy (M. F., Jr.) last evening. She found a moss-rose in flower this morning. Davy Jones and the boy went in the waggon to fish at the Little Falls yesterday; they were gone all day, but didn't get a nibble.
As near as I can guess, it's just about seven years since you went away. I have not seen Betty since, and we have heard from Dick but once, and Glum twice. I went to the Capitol with cousin Ann and Mary yesterday. Mit and Ellen are with us.
Our hearts were touched by the conduct of those excellent people, who greeted you with so much kindness and affection on your arrival at Moss Neck. Such a welcome must have gone far towards making you feel completely at home right
