LETTER FROM HIS FATHER. 65 



FROM HIS FATHER. 



ORBE, February 21, 1828. 



Your mother's last letter, my dear Louis, 

 was in answer to one from you which crossed 

 it on the way, and gave us, so far as your 

 health and contentment are concerned, great 

 satisfaction. Yet our gratification lacks some- 

 thing; it would be more complete had you 

 not a mania for rushing full gallop into the 

 future. I have often reproved you for this, 

 and you would fare better did you pay more 

 attention to my reproof. If it be an incur- 

 able malady with you, at all events do not 

 force your parents to share it. If it be ab- 

 solutely essential to your happiness that you 

 should break the ice of the two poles in order 

 to find the hairs of a mammoth, or that you 

 should dry your shirt in the sun of the trop- 

 ics, at least wait till your trunk is packed and 

 your passports are signed before you talk with 

 us about it. Begin by reaching your first 

 aim, a physician's and surgeon's diploma. I 

 will not for the present hear of anything else, 

 and that is more than enough. Talk to us, 

 then in your letters, of your friends, of your 

 personal life, of your wants (which I am al- 

 ways ready to satisfy), of your pleasures, of 



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