him you
would talk to him. When you do, dear, talk freely to him as to me.
You will not perhaps agree with all he says. But your own thoughts
will be healthier for bringing them--as I might say, out of doors. You
saw how it was by coming down here. Love of Christ is not a melancholy
nor a morbid thing, dear love, but ought to make one more social and
cheerful and alive.

I wish you could come home oftener. Try and get ahead with lessons so
that you can come oftener. And when you feel as if prayer was a
burden, stop praying and go out and try to put your Christianity into
real action by doing some kindness--even speaking in a friendly way to
somebody. Bring yourself into contact with new people--not John, Hugh,
Uncle and Grandma, and try to act to them as Christ would have you act,
and my word for it, you will go home with a new light on your own
relations to Him and a new meaning for your prayers. You remember the
prayer "give me a great thought to refresh me." I think you will find
some great thoughts in human beings--they will help you to understand
yourself and God, when you try to help them God makes you happy my
darling.

MAMA.

It was in this year that Richard enjoyed the thrill of seeing in print
his first contribution to a periodical. The date of this important
event, important, at least, to my brother, was February 1, the
fortunate publication was Judge, and the effusion was entitled "The Hat
and Its Inmate." Its purport was an overheard conversation between two
young ladies at a matinee and the editors thought so well of it that
for the privilege of printing the article they gave Richard a year's
subscription to Judge. His scrap-book of that time shows that in 1884
Life published a short burlesque on George W. Cable's novel, "Dr.
Sevier," and in the same year The Evening Post paid him $1.05 for an
article about "The New Year at Lehigh." It was also in the spring of
1884 that Richard published his first book, "The Adventures of My
Freshman," a neat little paper-covered volume including half a dozen of
the short stories that had already appeared in The Lehigh Burr. In
writing in a copy of this book in later years, Richard said: "This is
a copy of the first book of mine published. My family paid to have it
printed and finding no one else was buying it, bought up the entire
edition. Finding the first edition had gone so quickly, I urged them
to finance a second one, and when they were unen