27 Nov 1872 Letter from Thornton D. Manning to nephew James Monroe Smith Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by Robert S. Hendrick, 1/2005 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Letters from the Personal Collection of Dr. Robert S. Hendrick, Jr. Transcribed and submitted by Robert S. Hendrick, Jr. ================================================================================= 27 Nov 1872 Letter from Thornton D. Manning to nephew James Monroe Smith Residents of Farmerville, Union Parish Louisiana ================================================================================== Nov. 27, 1872 New Orleans, LA Dear Jimmie, I suppose (??) this you think I have forgotten you as I have never written you a letter, but I wonder have you known that I have been very busy indeed since last I saw you. As you see from the caption of the letter I am in the Crescent City. I have been here near a week. I am attending the medical school at this time. So you see, to reach eminence, or even attempt to satisfy a thirst for it, requires a continual effort. I saw a letter from you and also a monthly report before I left Farmerville and indeed I was proud to see what a high standing you had attained, and still more that pleased me was to see you were very well satisfied. I am so glad you held on to your position like a man. You never will regret it. When you are grown up, of course, it makes a boy who is accustomed to home treatment, and to be immediately thrown into such an institution as the one you are in, feel badly for a while, but we do know that all such is for improvement, and after a while we will all be through and be together and, I hope, fairly remunerate for our efforts. Remember, there is no excellence without labor and some suffering. Do not write to me at this place as I do not expect to stay here very long. I guess I will go out in Texas from here, so that it will be sometime yet before I get home. And there you can write when I get home. I know when one is busy, that there is very little time for writing. So I will not require you to write often. I have great hopes for your success as I know you to be a very moral boy and disposed to obey those that know more than yourself. Be especially particular to obey every thing commanded in your school and never become wearied in so doing. For we should never become wearied in doing our duty. Be especially particular and engage in no vice pictured out to you, however friendly he may profess to be. You will find that morality is as essential to get along successfully in this world as any other possession besides the great reward that is promised in a future state. School boys are so proned to grow, eve before they are aware of it, into some evil. Be always, there fore, on your guard. He who makes a good and worthy soldier is always on the watch, so that nothing passes unobserved. I have felt the some feeling of lowliness that I guess you sometimes feel, but it will leave after a while. And I always think they can do without me at home, therefore, I am not especially needed there. I wish I was your age and I there with you. I would give all that I now have. Remember how you will be respected when you are a graduate with honors. Be sure you think as little of home as you can and you will find that you will do better. The family were all well and lively when I left. Be very careful or when you go sometime without a demerit, you will accidentally become a little careless and just then you will get a demerit. One seldom gets a demerit when he is close on the watch. I feel that you are a boy that appreciates advice good. I will writ to you again. Accept my love. Your Uncle, T. D. Manning Thorton Dexter Manning ============================================================================== Note: Thorton Manning died in a yellow fever epidemic in Holly Springs, MS 6 years later. ###########################################################