es I met
with in my reading, which will serve to fix them upon my mind.

Not long after the writing of this model epistle, the simple village
life was interrupted by an unexpected change. John Adams was sent on a
diplomatic journey to Paris, and on February 13, 1778, embarked in the
frigate Boston. John Quincy Adams, then eleven years old, accompanied
his father and thus made his first acquaintance with the foreign lands
where so many of his coming years were to be passed. This initial
visit, however, was brief; and he was hardly well established at
school when events caused his father to start for home. Unfortunately
this return trip was a needless loss of time, since within three
months of their setting foot upon American shores the two travellers
were again on their stormy way back across the Atlantic in a leaky
ship, which had to land them at the nearest port in Spain. One (p. 005)
more quotation must be given from a letter written just after the
first arrival in France:--

PASSY, _September the 27th, 1778_.

HONORED MAMMA,--My Pappa enjoins it upon me to keep a Journal, or
a Diary of the Events that happen to me, and of objects that I
see, and of Characters that I converse with from day to day; and
altho' I am Convinced of the utility, importance and necessity of
this Exercise, yet I have not patience and perseverance enough to
do it so Constantly as I ought. My Pappa, who takes a great deal
of pains to put me in the right way, has also advised me to
Preserve Copies of all my letters, and has given me a Convenient
Blank Book for this end; and altho' I shall have the
mortification a few years hence to read a great deal of my
Childish nonsense, yet I shall have the Pleasure and advantage of
Remarking the several steps by which I shall have advanced in
taste, judgment and knowledge. A Journal Book and a letter Book
of a Lad of Eleven years old Can not be expected to Contain much
of Science, Literature, arts, wisdom, or wit, yet it may serve to
perpetuate many observations that I may make, and may hereafter
help me to recollect both persons and things that would other
ways escape my memory.

He continues with resolutions "to be more thoughtful and industrious
for the future," and reflects with pleasure upon the prospect that
his scheme "will be a sure means of improvement to myself,