How should I proceed with what I have here, sell all off or bring a part? I have three beds and bedding, one cow and ordinary things enough to keep house. My children are all called tolerable scholars. My daughter is the youngest; _the neighbors call her an interesting child._ I have no pretensions to make; my only object is to _enjoy the good of the society_ and have my children _educated and accomplished._ Am I to send my boys off to work alone, or will they have a _kind person_ to say, "_Come boys_," and _relieve me from the heavy task of bringing up my boys_ with nothing to _do it with?_ If your religion has a name I should like well enough to know it; if not, and the substance is love to God and good-will to men, my mind is well enough satisfied. I have reflected on this subject ever since I read the article alluded to, and now I want you to write me _every particular;_ then if you and I think best, in the spring I will come to you. We are none of us what may be called weakly. I am forty-six years old; able to do as much every day as to spin what is called a day's work--not that I expect you spin much there, only that is the amount of my strength as it now holds out. I should wish to seek _intelligence_, as you must know 1 lack greatly, and I _cannot endure the thought_ my children must lack as greatly, whilst multitudes are going so far in advance, no better qualified by nature than they. I want you to _send me quite a number of names of your leading characters_. If it should seem strange to you that I make the demand, I will explain it to you when I get there. I want you to answer _every item_ of this letter and as much more as _can have any bearing on my mind_, either way, whether you accept this letter _kindly or not_. I want you to write an answer without delay! Are there meetings for _us to attend?_ Do you have singing schools? I do thus far feel friendly to your society. Direct your letter to, etc. M. R. JOHNSON. _A Southern Applicant._ ALEXANDRIA, BENTON CO., ALA., July 13, 1845. _Mr. G. Ripley,_ DEAR SIR: Will you step aside for a moment from the many duties, the interesting cares and soul-stirring pleasures of your enviable situation, and read a few lines from a stranger? They come to you, not from the cold and sterile regions of the North, nor from the luxuriant yet untamed wilds of the West, but from the bright and sunny land where cotton flowers bloom, where nature has placed her signet of beauty and fertility. Yes, sir; the science that the immortal Fourier brought to light has reached the far South, and I trust has warmed many hearts, and interested many minds; but of ours alone will I write. It is to me the dawn of a brighter day than has ever yet risen upon the world--a day when man shall be redeemed from his more than "Egyptian bondage" and stand erect in moral, intellectual and physical beauty.