70 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



(J. C. E. TO S. W. J.) 



LowviUe, 8 Dec. 1854. 



Dear Bro. S. Sarah and myself have been enjoying today 

 a visit to Deer River. Your Father has just been reading 

 your letter. I am glad that the time of your return is fixed 

 so near. Not that I am anxious that you should be cut short 

 in the valuable opportunities you have in Germany of study, 

 but am impatient to see you, the time seems so long. I am 

 aware that the advantages you are having in Europe are 

 invaluable in the prosecution of your future plans and will 

 probably make a very great difference in your future success. 

 As you intimate, it is getting time for you to define your 

 position on the great stage of life. It is not wise, considering 

 the shortness of human career, to spend too much time in 

 getting ready to act. We should never cease to be students, 

 yet to be students merely will not do. Our acquirements 

 must be turned to practical account. . . . Wouldn't the sit- 

 uation as State Chemist of Massachusetts be a nicer thing 

 than the Agricultural School you speak of establishing at 

 Lowville? If we were to remain at Lowville, nothing would 

 please me more than to have you here. I do not think un- 

 favorably of such a plan. . . . But government patronage 

 with the fat appropriations Mr. - speaks of are just the 

 tools for a man of your cloth to work with. With such a 

 situation you will be "in town." Massachusetts seems to be 

 taking a high stand in Agricultural reform. And I think 

 there is no part of our country more favorable for the prose- 

 cution of your designs. . . . 



Father Johnson received yours just about Thanksgiving 

 Day. So Uncle Abner sent to Carthage, got two turkies, 

 visited his own hen-roost, and got up a Thanksgiving feast 

 for his children. He wrote to us, but unfortunately I was 

 away from home and did not get the letter until it was too 

 late. Amos and Harriet, Margaret and Silas, being of the 

 children, were there. 



