September 9 Wednesday – Pamela Moffett would have had time to answer Sam’s rather harsh Sept. 4 letter about her son, Sammy Moffett. From Elmira, Sam offered salve and explained his thinking, though he remained critical of “giddy mothers & unwise teachers.”

Dear Sister: / Do not take my letter too much to heart. I couldn’t be otherwise than warm on the subject, for it does seem so prodigiously important. I don’t want to be unkind. But Sammy’s brain must be rested—& thoroughly rested, too. It must not be frittered away, overstrained, destroyed & lost to his generation & his country.

      I was glad indeed to hear of Mr. Tucker—I remember him well, & especially his sermons. They were usually 65 pages long. I always counted them, & whenever he “rung in” an extra one there was one member of his congregation that cordially resented it. But I liked him.

      We are getting along well. The picture is pretty good.

Sam.

P.S. Pamela, just reflect, for a moment, that Webster, Grant, & nearly all the other great men, were dull & slow, in boyhood—it was all that saved them from overtaxing & destruction by parents & teachers— over-indulgence. But just think! What became of the bright boys, the brilliant intellects that headed their classes? Gone!—destroyed—over-indulged—ruined—lost to the world—lost to unborn generations of men!

Gone down to the grave, unknown & unhonored, & left their high places to be filled by men infinitely their inferiors—such as the Grants and the Websters. I tell you we don’t know what real splendid, magnificent greatness is—we kill it, persecute it [,] harry it into idiotcy or mediocrity before it can mature. Think of the mighty names you giddy mothers & unwise teachers have robbed the world of! [MTP, drop-in letters]. Note: Tucker is likely Rev. Howard Tucker, who had been head of the Keokuk Library association in the 1860s.