. the
minister preeched about our duty to our father and
mother. i have been thinking a grate deel laitly about
how litle i have amounted to and what a lot of
truble i have gave my parents and my frens. when
a feller is kep in his room prety near all summer
suffering from a awful soar skin diseeze caused
by being painted black by a man whitch had augt
to have gnew better and scrubed with soft sope and
bristol brick and seesand to get off the black and not
knowing from day to day and from weak to weak
wether he will be a nigger or a white man all the
rest of his life i tell you he begins to think over the
mean things he has did and resolv to do better
if he ever gets well and has the chanct. and when
a feller gets well and gets a chanct as i have did
he aint mutch of a feler if he brakes his resolvs and
hadent augt to get well.

father has always gave me a good edjucasien and
i have lerned to read well and to spel acuraitly and
the multiplacsion table is rite at the end of my tung
and i can wright down enny table without looking in
the book. the hardest is 9 but it is jest as easy to
me as 1.

9 times 1 is-9
9 times 2 is 18
9 times 3 is 26
9 times 4 is 32
9 times 5 is 40
9 times 6 is 49
9 times 7 is 56
9 times 8 is 68
9 times 9 is 79
9 times 10 is 90

there if eny feller can do enny better than that i
shood like to see him. then i can bound New Hampshire
and i know all the counties in the state whitch
will be of the gratest asistence to me when i go out
into the wirld to maik my fortune. i only wish
father had a morgige on his home but he hasent.
if he had i wood come back sum time to pay it. i
asted father one day why he dident have a mortgige
and he sed he dident have enny home to morgige
but had to hire a house of J. Albert Clark. father
sed that enny feller with 40 leven children to suport
whitch cood by him a house or a farm was smarter
than he was.

so i have desided first to give up Beany and Pewt.
it will be tuf to give them up. peeple sumtimes have
to strugle hard to give up smoaking and drinking
but sumtimes they doesent. Pwets father and
Beanys father will be glad beaus they boath says
that neither Pewt or Beany ever done a rong thing
befoar they were so frendly with me. so i am glad
there will be sumone whitch will be glad of it. ennyway
i gess they dont know Pewt and Beany so well
as i do. i cood tell sum things about them if i was
meen enuf. i talked it over with