ng, June 16, 1859.

MY DEAR SUSIE,--I have just been reading your pleasant letter; and if I
do not send you the poem you ask for so eloquently, I will give you a
little bit of advice, which will do just as well,--won't it, my dear? I
was interested in your account of various things going on at Oxbow
Village. I am very glad you find young Mr. Hopkins so agreeable a
friend. His poetry is better than some which I see printed in the
village papers, and seems generally unexceptionable in its subjects and
tone. I do not believe he is a dangerous companion, though the habit of
writing verse does not always improve the character. I think I have seen
it make more than one of my acquaintances idle, conceited, sentimental,
and frivolous,--perhaps it found them so already. Don't make too much of
his talent, and particularly don't let him think that because he can
write verses he has nothing else to do in this world. That is for his
benefit, dear, and you must skilfully apply it.

Now about yourself. My dear Susie, there was something in your letter
that did not please me. You speak of a visit from the Rev. Mr. Stoker,
and of his kind, brotherly treatment, his cordiality of behavior, and his
asking you to visit him in his study. I am very glad to hear you say
that you "don't seem to like him." He is very familiar, it seems to me,
for so new an acquaintance. What business had he to be laying his hand
on your shoulder? I should like to see him try these free-and-easy ways
in my presence! He would not have taken that liberty, my dear! No, he
was alone with you, and thought it safe to be disrespectfully familiar.
I want you to maintain your dignity always with such persons, and I beg
you not to go to the study of this clergyman, unless some older friend
goes with you on every occasion, and sits through the visit. I must
speak plainly to you, my dear, as I have a right to. If the minister has
anything of importance to say, let it come through the lips of some
mature person. It may lose something of the fervor with which it would
have been delivered at first hand, but the great rules of Christian life
are not so dependent on the particular individual who speaks them, that
you must go to this or that young man to find out what they are. If to
any man, I should prefer the old gentleman whom you have mentioned in
your letters, Father Pemberton. You understand me, my dear girl, and the
subject is not grateful. You know how