Your mother has shown me your letter, in which you request that I shall write you. Why is this request made after such a short separation? Do you already feel the necessity of counsel? If so, it is at hand in your two Aunts, with whom you should communicate freely and fully, and whose opinions you should not only respect, but implicitly follow, certainly as to all matters relating to etiquette, behavior and conduct. You are very young and inexperienced in the ways and wiles of the world, and yet your size would indicate maturer years, hence strangers will expect manners, conduct and conversation suited to your size and not your years. Do not permit the buoyancy and vivacity of youth to betray you into levity of manners. Be circumspect, be dignified, and be good humored. The control of the temper is of the first importance to the elevated standing of every woman. Learn to be cheerful, sociable and agreeable. This you cannot be without controlling your temper. Be not hasty to take offense, or captious, and recollect that though she that will not resent an insult when offered, is a contemptible beast of burden, yet she that is captious and ill-natured, and ready to take offense at trifles, is a beast of prey. Half the difficulties and disappointments and vexations we meet with in the world, had as well be the subject of our amusement as our tears, and so far as it regards our intercourse with the world, had a great deal better be the subject of our amusement, for in general there is little sympathy felt for the woes of others. In your conversation be careful that you speak grammatically and avoid all rude or coarse expressions. The best way to acquire colloquial power, so important to a well educated woman, is to listen to those of your sex attentively, who are most remarkable for these gifts. You thereby acquire correct pronunciation, good gestures, easy delivery, and a knowledge of those topics of conversation that are most likely to enable you to beguile an hour agreeably. Present me affectionately to your Aunts, and believe me to be, with solicitude for your conduct and appearance and permanent happiness, Your affectionate father, JOHN H. PEYTON. JOHN H. PEYTON TO HIS WIFE. Richmond, Jan. 15th, 1840. _My Dear Wife_: Your affectionate letters, one written on the 5th, the other on the 11th, have been duly rec'd and read with delight.