Title: Letter from Richard H. Lewis to Exum Lewis II, September 24, 1825: Electronic Edition.
Author: Lewis, Richard Henry, 1806-1857
Editor: Erika Lindemann
Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the electronic publication of this title.
Text transcribed by Erika Lindemann
Images scanned by Mara E. Dabrishus
Text encoded by Brian Dietz
First Edition, 2005
Size of electronic edition: ca. 10K
Publisher: The University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2005
The electronic edition is a part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.
Languages used in the text: English
Revision history:
2005-05-12, Brian Dietz finished TEI/XML encoding.
Part of a series:
This transcribed document is part of a digital collection, titled True and Candid Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students in North Carolina
written by Lindemann, Erika
Source(s):
Title of collection: John Francis Speight Papers (#3914), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title of document: Letter from Richard H. Lewis to Exum Lewis II, September 24, 1825
Author: Richard H. Lewis
Description: 2 pages, 2 page images
Note: Call number 3914 (Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Topics covered:
Education/UNC Curriculum
Education/UNC Enrollments and Finances
Personal Relationships/With Family Members
Examples of Student Writing/Letters
Editorial practices
The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Transcript of the personal correspondence. Originals are in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved.
DocSouth staff created a 600 dpi uncompressed TIFF file for each image. The TIFF images were then saved as JPEG images at 100 dpi for web access.
Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the text.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
Letters, words and passages marked as deleted or added in originals have been encoded accordingly.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ".
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '.
All em dashes are encoded as —.
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.

For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions, see Dr. Erika Lindemann's explanation under the section Editorial Practices.

Document Summary

Lewis tells his father what he is studying and reports that he needs money for firewood.
Letter from Richard H. Lewislink opens in a new window to Exum Lewis II, September 24, 18251
Lewis, Richard Henry, 1806-1857



Page 1
University of N Carolina Septr 24. 1825

Dear Father

Your kind letter announcing the convalescent state of my affectionate motherlink opens in a new window , together with that of the rest of your family has been received. And it is in conformity to the duty which I owe you, in conformity to the affection which I bear you and in order to evince to you that affection that I loose no time in answering it. When we consider the strong ties by which we are bound to our parents, when we reflect on the many obligations under which we are to them, we ought always to use our best endeavors to be kind and obedient to them. This has ever been my principal aim, and may it always be, dear father, the primary object of your affectionate son. The stream of time flows swiftly on. Half of the present session is nearly past and when another half has gone by I shall again be restored to the bosom of my parents. And until the then I shall use my best endeavors to improve my time and talents.
My studies at present are Spherical Trigonometry, Blairs Lectures on Rhetoric and Belleslettres, two Latin lessons a week, in order to keep it fresh in my our mind, and Mensuration of Heights & Distances

Page 2
which we will complete in a few days, next to which we will study Navigation and after that Surveying.
My health I may say is unusually good and as cold weather will soon be here, will no doubt continue good. I would be thankful to you if when the weather becomes cold enough to have fires, you would enclose me a little money, I shall need some to buy fire wood &c.

I remain as ever
your affectionate and dutiful
son

R. H. Lewislink opens in a new window



My best love
to motherlink opens in a new window and
also to my little Broth.
&c.


Please excuse bad writing and any other errors that may occur

Endnotes:

1. John Francis Speight Papers, SHC. The letter is addressed "Mr Exum Lewis/Post Master/ Mount Prospect/ No Ca "; the postage endorsement reads "Chapel Hill/26 Sep} Free." Below the fold forming the face of the envelope, along the left margin, another hand has written "From/ R. H. Lewislink opens in a new window /Septr 24. 1825."