The Gentleman's Model Letter-writer Part 8

MY DEAR MRS. ----,

Thank you very much for the beautiful book you have sent me. It is very pretty and nice, and I like it very much. I long to see you again. I have been out driving this morning in the pony carriage.

There is a hard frost. With best love to Dr. G. and yourself

I remain,

Your most affectionate little friend,

R. D. A.

_From a Father to a Son, relative to his Expenditure._

Hackney, March 5th, 187-

MY DEAR SON,

Your last letter gave us pleasure not unmixed with pain: pleasure to learn that you were well, and held in esteem by your superiors, and on friendly terms with those of your own standing; and pain from the request which it contained. Your mother, like myself, feels grieved that you should ask for an additional allowance. You should consider that you have brothers and sisters for whom I have also to make a provision, and that if the allowance I now give you (which is considered large) be increased, it must deprive us all of some of our necessary comforts. You must reflect on this, dear boy, and then I am well a.s.sured that you will not urge your request. I will, however (for this once alone, understand me), make you a present of Thirty Pounds. Your own good sense, I am certain, will show you the necessity of retrenchment, so I shall not allude to the matter further. The presents you sent us each by last mail are much appreciated and treasured by us.

We are going to move from this neighbourhood, as we find it too expensive; when next you write, therefore, address to Durnford Street.

Your brother Fred is going to be married, but will live near us. His future wife is a daughter of Mr. Pa.s.smore, and at his death she will have about 2000_l_.; at present he will make her an allowance of 80_l_. per annum.

All your pets are well, and we guard them jealously for your sake.

Trusting you will remain some time at Shopoo, as it agrees with you so well, and that we may constantly hear from you,

Believe me, with our united kindest love,

Your affectionate father,

H. V. ROSSITER.

_From one Brother to another, on having unexpectedly ama.s.sed a Fortune._

Natal, S. Africa, February 1st, 187--

DEAR WILLIAM,

You are well aware that when I sailed from England a few years ago, after paying my pa.s.sage out I had but a very few pounds left; but I soon got good employment, and saved out of my wages all that I possibly could. I never was very fond of company, and have no expensive habits; so at the end of two years I found myself with 30_l._ to my credit in the bank. When the report came here of diamonds being found up the country, I started off, bag and baggage, and on my arrival got an allotment, and went to work with a hearty good will. For many a weary day I toiled, giving myself little time for rest. At last I was rewarded: among the washings I found a diamond, a small one, yet what a treasure I thought it! On and on I toiled--some weeks with success, and others with none; however, my labours have been successful: I have been fortunate enough to find diamonds, which, when valued, have realized the handsome sum of ----.

Tell my dearest mother that now she will never want. I am coming home, and shall invest for her sole use during her lifetime ----.

Will you, dear William, look out for a good school for my little sister? She must be nine years of age now. Ask the clergyman's wife to recommend you one. I wish her to be educated as a lady, and she shall have the ---- at my mother's death. How I wish our poor father had lived to derive some comfort from my fortune! You shall have 100_l._ paid to your credit to provide the things Jane will require on going to school, and to pay for the first half-year's expenses there. I hope to be home in six months, when I will take a suitable house for our dear mother. If you will accept it from me, I make you a present of ----; with the remainder of my earnings I shall purchase a nice property, so that I may be certain my money will be secure, for were I to speculate I might lose all.

With best love, and hoping shortly to see you happy and well,

Believe me,

Your affectionate brother,

ANGUS M'DONALD.

_From a Gentleman in India to a Relation in England._

Camp, Booltan, Feb. 1st, 187--

MY DEAR ----,

Many thanks for your last letter, which arrived some three weeks ago. We never received the letter to which you allude, containing the photographs; and I am very sorry it went astray, for we should have liked so much to have them. I hope, if you have other copies, that you will kindly send them to us when you next write.

We both desire to thank you for your kind and cordial reception of dear Richard. He wrote and told us how warmly you received him, and how pleased and gratified he was to see you. I trust he will come to see you again on his return from Devon, where he was when we last heard from him. We miss him terribly, and look forward anxiously to meeting him out here again next year, if, please G.o.d, we are all spared. James, his wife, and children are living down at Cheltenham. I wonder if there is any chance of your meeting? Sarah Maria is in Cornwall, but they took a house for a term of years near Watford, and will be back there, certainly before Christmas; she had no idea you were in London, and I must tell her of it when I next write to her. We are now in camp, marching about the district; of course I do my office as usual in tents every day--a happy, gipsy kind of life--and dearest Sophie and the little ones always enjoy it. Give my kindest love to Emma and Blanche. I have been intending to write to Emma, and I will really write soon; but in the hot weather one feels terribly indisposed for letter-writing, and I have quite quill-work enough to do every day. Our kindest love to yourself and Horace, and to Jane and Sophia; and many kisses from our little darling.

Always your very affectionate cousin,

HAROLD SOTHERN.

_A Father, who has lately lost his Wife, to his Daughter at School._

Woburn, July 20th.

MY DARLING CHILD,

I was very pleased and comforted by your last affectionate letter.

Bitterly indeed do I miss you! Had I given way to my own selfish wishes, I think I should not have allowed you to return to school.

Your dear aunt, however, who is now looking carefully after my domestic affairs, showed me so plainly that by keeping you at home I should be depriving you of the advantages of education, that I sacrificed my feelings for your sake. On reflection, also, I hoped that you would find some little consolation and comfort from a.s.sociation with young ladies of your own age, for here all is cheerless and dreary. The void caused by your dear mother's death can never be refilled; my home is truly desolate. It would have been wrong to keep you at home to share my grief, and thus uselessly add bitterness to your younger years. Do not grieve too long and bitterly, my child, for your dearly loved mother; imitate her in every action of her life; and when Time has slightly moderated your poor father's sorrow, and you are in charge of his home and your own, things may be brighter and more cheerful again.