The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-01-29
Dickens to His Sen.

With the exception of the f1rst-bOrn,
my brothers were sent to school very
young. AS they grew up, and were
sent out into the world, my father
wrote a letter of counsel to each,
writes Mamie Dickens in an article
on "What My Father Taught Us'' in
the February Ladies' Home Journal.
Here is one such letter:
"I write this note to-day because
your going away is much upon my
mind, and because 1 want you to
have a few parting words from me to
think of nowIand then, at quiet times.
l need not tell you that l love you
dearly, and am very, very sorry, IN
my heart, to part with you. Butt this
life is half made up of partings, and
thes pains must be borne. 1t is my
comfort, and my sincere conviction,
that you are going to try the life for
which you are best fitted. / think it's
freedom and wildness more suited to
you than any other experiment in 3
study or Office would ever have been !;
and without that training you could
have follow ed no other suitable oecu-
patton. What you have always
wanted until now has been . set,
steady, constant purpose. l there
fore exhort you to persevere in q
thorough determination to do what
ever YOU have to do as we'll as you
can do il. / was not SO old as you
are now when I first had to win my
food, and do this out of this determi-
nation and have never slackened in
it since. Never taxa mean advan-
tage of anyone IN any transaction,
and never be hard upon people who
are in your power. Try to do to 9TH
ers as you would like them do to you !;
and do not be discouraged II they fail
sometimes. 1t ia. much better for
you that they should fail in obeying
the greatest rule laid down by our
Saviour than that you should. i
have put q New Testament among
your books for the very same reasons,
and with the very same hopes that
made me write an easy account of IL
| for you when you were little child.
Because it is the best book that ever
was or will he known in the world !;
and because it teaches you the best
lessons by which any human Great
ure who tries to be truthful and faith
full to duty can possibly be guided.
"As your brothers have gone away,
one by one,I havei written to,.ea6h
such words as i am. writing. to- you
and have.entfeatedfh them all to- guide
themselves by this book, pnttinG
aside the interpretations and fnVen-
tions Of men. You will remember
that you have: never at home been
weafied about religious observance.
or mere formalities. i have always
been anxious not to weary my child.
rem with such things before they arr
old enough to form opinions. respect.
ing them. You will, therefore, un-
derstand the better that 1 now mos
solemnly impress upon you the truth
and beauty OF the Christian religion
as it came from Christ Himself, and
the impossibility OF your going fal
wrong if you humbly but hea tily re.
spect it. Only one thing more or
this head. The more we are in ear
nest as to feeling it, the less we are
disposed to hold forth about ii. New
er abandon the wholesome practice OF
saying your own private prayers
night and morning. l have never
abandoned it myself, and 1 know the
comfort of it. L hope you will always
be able to say, in after life, that you
had kind father"