The Letters of William James, Vol. 2James, William
Philosophy
The Letters of William James, Vol. 2
James, William
Intellectuals -- United States; James, William, 1842-1910; Philosophers -- United States; Psychologists -- United States
DEAR FRANÇOIS,--Here we are in Geneva, at the Flournoys'--dear people
and splendid children. I wish Harry could marry Alice, Billy marry
Marguerite, and you marry Ariane-Dorothée--the absolutely jolliest and
beautifullest 3-year old I ever saw. I am trying to get you engaged! I
enclose pictures of the dog. Ariane-Dorothée r-r-r-olls her r-r-r's like
fury. I got your picture of the elephant--very good. Draw everything you
see, no matter how badly, trying to notice how the lines run--one line
every day!--just notice it and draw it, no matter how badly, and at the
end of the year you'll be s'prised to see how well you can draw. Tell
Billy to get you a big blank book at the Coöp., and every day take one
page, just drawing down on it some _thing_, or _dog_, or _horse_, or
_man_ or _woman_, or _part_ of a man or woman, which you have looked at
that day just for the purpose, to see how the lines run. I bet the last
page of that book will be better than the first! Do this for my sake.
Kiss your dear old Grandma. P'r'aps, we shall get home this summer after
all. In two or three days I shall see a doctor and know more about
myself. Will let you know. Keep motionless and listen as much as you
can. Take in things without speaking--it'll make you a better man. Your
Ma thinks you'll grow up into a filosopher like me and write books. It
is easy enuff, all but the writing. You just get it out of other books,
and write it down. Always your loving,
DAD.
At this time James's thirteen-year-old daughter was living with family
friends--the Joseph Thatcher Clarkes--in Harrow, and was going to an
English school with their children. She had been passing through such
miseries as a homesick child often suffers, and had written letters
which evoked the following response.
_To his Daughter._
VILLA LUISE,
BAD-NAUHEIM, _May 26, 1900_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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