4 of Johnston’s spelling dictionaries. 4 works on Arithmetic. 4 sets of good copperplate copies of large and small hand. 4 sets of the _Spectator_. One of each to be a fixture in your family for the use of the children; one of each for Bell’s family: one ditto for Mrs. Scott’s and one ditto for Abraham. The dictionaries will, I hope, correct the spelling and by reading the _Spectator_ often it will improve the understanding and give ideas of a neat style. It is an immense object to learn children to write a straight fair hand, to spell well and cipher to the rule of three; and although this is not much of an education yet when well fixed in the mind with a little brains and some industry a man may learn anything. The greatest men America has produced had not much more education than here mentioned from their parents, but they had a great and meritorious industry; Franklin, Washington, and Rittenhouse are examples. Wishing you all well it will give me pleasure to hear that you do well. ROBERT FULTON. It is certain that Fulton had practised what he here preaches to his nephews and nieces. During his study of the great men of the day, Franklin, Washington, and Rittenhouse, he had caught the illuminative spark of their genius, struck out upon life’s anvil by their hard blows of untiring work. The secret of their power was constant self-culture, and Fulton applied himself to gain this foundation of strength by the application of his mature mind to the education which circumstances had deprived him of in his youth. Let us hope that the nephews and nieces gladly received these gift-books from their famous uncle whom they had never seen, welcomed the big dictionaries and arithmetics with joy, and studied hard during the winter evenings, as he suggested. About the same time he also wrote the following letter to Mr. Hoge, the first settler in Washington, Pennsylvania, from whom he had received an inquiry in regard to the four lots he had purchased. It shows Fulton’s unfailing generosity to his brother and sisters: “I thank you kindly for your friendly letter of the first of June; it is so many years since I had any communication with you, or accurate account of my relations, together with many copies of my letters being lost in my travels, and considering my property in your country of value only in as much as it was of use to my relatives, I had forgot the grants I formerly made of the three lots. I find however that one of them has been transferred to Mr. Morris, one to Mrs. Cook, and one was left by my mother to Peggy Scott. “I now desire that those grants may be considered permanent and resigning all claims to them, from this time I shall not reckon them in my calculations.” In his will, drawn in 1814, Fulton left a legacy of money also to each of his sisters and his brother.