Children -- Death -- Juvenile fiction; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Farm life -- Juvenile fiction; Siblings -- Juvenile fiction
"I am in the same house where Rufus lived when he was in
Mannahatta, with his friend Mr. Inchbald; and a kinder friend
I do not wish for. He is an Englishman -- a fine-looking and
fine-hearted fellow -- ready to do everything for me, and
putting me upon terms almost too easy for my comfort. He is a
miniature painter, by profession, but I fear does not make
much of a living. That does not hinder his being as generous
as if he had thousands to dispose of. His heart does not take
counsel with his purse, nor with anything but his heart. He
lives with a widowed sister who keeps his house; and she is as
kind in her way as he is in his, though the ways are
different. I am as much at home here as I can be. I have
Rufus's old room; it is a very pleasant one, and if there is
not much furniture, neither do I want much. It holds my bed
and my books; and my wardrobe at present does not require very
extensive accommodations; and when I am in the middle of one
of those said parchment-covered tomes, it signifies very
little indeed what is outside of them or of me, at the moment.
So you may think of me as having all I desire, so far as I
myself am concerned; for my license and my use of it, must be
worked and waited for. I shall not be a _great_ lawyer, dear
Winnie, under three years at least.
"For you all, I desire so much that my heart almost shuts up
its store and says nothing. So much that for a long time, it
may be, I can have no means of helping you to enjoy. Dear
father and mother, I hope I have not on the whole lessened
your means of enjoyment by striking out this path for myself.
I trust it will in the end be found to be the best for us all.
I have acted under the pressure of an impulse that seemed
strong as life. I _could_ do no other than as I have done. Yet I
can hardly bear to think of you at home sometimes. Dear Winnie
and Asahel, our images rise up and lie down with me. Asahel
must study hard every minute of time he can get. And Winnie,
you must study too every minute that it does not tire you, and
when mother does not want you. And write to me. That will do
you good, and it will do me good too.
"Give my love to Karen.
"Yours all, faithfully,
"Winthrop Landholm.
"P. S. -- I have seen nobody yet but Mr. Herder."
When Winthrop went to put this letter in the post, he drew out
the following:
"To Winthrop Landholm, Esq.:
At Mr. George Inchbald's,
"Cor. Beaver and Little South Sts., Mannahatta.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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