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388 The North Carolina Historical Commission.
It was, indeed, very wrong to have taken it in Baltimore, for you know
that the College would supply all you ought to take up or that I thought
you ought. And it was stil a greater error not to communicate the fact
to me; from whom you ought to conceal nothing—for the very conceal-ment
showed the consciousness of a fault. But not doubting the hearti-ness
of your penitence and confiding in the sincerity of your promises,
never to repeat the transgression, I freely extend you the forgiveness
you so warmly entreat. You ought however to be aware, that this is a
boon extended to you by paternal fondness and that such aberrations
from propriety and uprightness are never pardoned by the world nor
forgotten by foes, of whom every person will find, by sad experience,
that he has more than enough. Above all, my Son, I would advise you
to stand well with yourself: Have the approbation of your own con-science
in all things and never do an act which shall forfeit your own
self-respect, without which there is no just lease of character nor true
estimate of reputation, both of which are indispensibly requisite to
dignity of demeanor and that moral courage, which will carry one
through the discharge of painful duties or sustain one under adversities.
I shall expect you to gain as many distinctions in your classes as dili-gence
can make you worthy of. I regret to observe the intimations you
give of a distaste for Algebra : The difficulties you hint at are only the
consequences of the abstract nature of the Science. That is the very
property, which renders the study of Mathematics so useful in the system
of general education. It teaches the art of pure reasoning and induc-tion,
with the least possible connection with sensible objects. I am not
now speaking of the application of its principles to mechanics or the
practical arts—in which its utility for the ordinary purposes of life
consists. But I alude to the pure Mathematics, which are altogether
mental, except so far as the use of arbitrary figures and characters is
invoked to enable one mind to impart its course of reasoning and con-clusion
to another—If I judge rightly of the kind of mind you have, an
intense application to this line of study is exactly that best suited to
supply your defects and impart to it the quality of closeness of reason-ing,
in which I fear you are deficient. Nothing can be gained without
strictest attention—so as to bring yourself to comprehend and to master
these abstractions : When once you are the Master of a few of the lead-ing
principles, the rest will be easy. You must not rely only upon
Memory, which is unequal to the burdens of carrying in it such diversified
operations and rules. The understanding alone is the faculty exercised,
improved and employed in this Science; which instructs us in thinking
and reasoning. Judge, then, its value and exert yourself to progress in
it proportionally.
You have my permission to get a flute, provided it do not exceed the
price formerly mentioned by you, viz $20—or $25. I also enclose five
Dollars for your Easter indulgencies—which, however, you are allowed
by me to use only upon the approbation of your Masters and in the
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| Title | Page 398 |
| Full Text | 388 The North Carolina Historical Commission. It was, indeed, very wrong to have taken it in Baltimore, for you know that the College would supply all you ought to take up or that I thought you ought. And it was stil a greater error not to communicate the fact to me; from whom you ought to conceal nothing—for the very conceal-ment showed the consciousness of a fault. But not doubting the hearti-ness of your penitence and confiding in the sincerity of your promises, never to repeat the transgression, I freely extend you the forgiveness you so warmly entreat. You ought however to be aware, that this is a boon extended to you by paternal fondness and that such aberrations from propriety and uprightness are never pardoned by the world nor forgotten by foes, of whom every person will find, by sad experience, that he has more than enough. Above all, my Son, I would advise you to stand well with yourself: Have the approbation of your own con-science in all things and never do an act which shall forfeit your own self-respect, without which there is no just lease of character nor true estimate of reputation, both of which are indispensibly requisite to dignity of demeanor and that moral courage, which will carry one through the discharge of painful duties or sustain one under adversities. I shall expect you to gain as many distinctions in your classes as dili-gence can make you worthy of. I regret to observe the intimations you give of a distaste for Algebra : The difficulties you hint at are only the consequences of the abstract nature of the Science. That is the very property, which renders the study of Mathematics so useful in the system of general education. It teaches the art of pure reasoning and induc-tion, with the least possible connection with sensible objects. I am not now speaking of the application of its principles to mechanics or the practical arts—in which its utility for the ordinary purposes of life consists. But I alude to the pure Mathematics, which are altogether mental, except so far as the use of arbitrary figures and characters is invoked to enable one mind to impart its course of reasoning and con-clusion to another—If I judge rightly of the kind of mind you have, an intense application to this line of study is exactly that best suited to supply your defects and impart to it the quality of closeness of reason-ing, in which I fear you are deficient. Nothing can be gained without strictest attention—so as to bring yourself to comprehend and to master these abstractions : When once you are the Master of a few of the lead-ing principles, the rest will be easy. You must not rely only upon Memory, which is unequal to the burdens of carrying in it such diversified operations and rules. The understanding alone is the faculty exercised, improved and employed in this Science; which instructs us in thinking and reasoning. Judge, then, its value and exert yourself to progress in it proportionally. You have my permission to get a flute, provided it do not exceed the price formerly mentioned by you, viz $20—or $25. I also enclose five Dollars for your Easter indulgencies—which, however, you are allowed by me to use only upon the approbation of your Masters and in the |
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