you some assistance when the lad comes to have concerns with the
bishop; it is good for American farmers to have friends even in
England. What he requires of you is but simple--what we speak out
among ourselves we call conversation, and a letter is only
conversation put down in black and white.

James: You quite persuade me--if he laughs at my awkwardness, surely
he will be pleased with my ready compliance. On my part, it will be
well meant let the execution be what it may. I will write enough,
and so let him have the trouble of sifting the good from the bad,
the useful from the trifling; let him select what he may want, and
reject what may not answer his purpose. After all, it is but
treating Mr. F. B. now that he is in London, as I treated him when
he was in America under this roof; that is with the best things I
had; given with a good intention; and the best manner I was able.
Very different, James, very different indeed, said my wife, I like
not thy comparison; our small house and cellar, our orchard and
garden afforded what he wanted; one half of his time Mr. F. B., poor
man, lived upon nothing but fruit-pies, or peaches and milk. Now
these things were such as God had given us, myself and wench did the
rest; we were not the creators of these victuals, we only cooked
them as well and as neat as we could. The first thing, James, is to
know what sort of materials thee hast within thy own self, and then
whether thee canst dish them up.--Well, well, wife, thee art wrong
for once; if I was filled with worldly vanity, thy rebuke would be
timely, but thee knowest that I have but little of that. How shall I
know what I am capable of till I try? Hadst thee never employed
thyself in thy father's house to learn and to practise the many
branches of house-keeping that thy parents were famous for, thee
wouldst have made but a sorry wife for an American farmer; thee