I
hope it will not be so with you. Should you ever wish to receive from
me any direct religious instruction, I hope you will write immediately
and freely. I shall very probably not even notice that it is the first
time I have received such a communication from you. So numerous and so
frequent are these communications, that I seldom observe, when I receive
one from any individual for the first time, that it comes from one who
has not written me before.
Such are the means to which I resort in endeavoring to lead my pupils to
God and to duty, and you will observe that the whole design of them is
to win and to allure, not to compel. The regular devotional exercises of
school are all which you will _necessarily_ witness. These are very
short, occupying much less time than many of the pupils think desirable.
The rest is all private and voluntary. I never make any effort to urge
any one to attend the Saturday meeting, nor do I, except in a few rare
and peculiar cases, ever address any one personally, unless she desires
to be so addressed. You will be left, therefore, in this school,
unmolested, to choose your own way. If you should choose to neglect
religious duty, and to wander away from God, I shall still do all in my
power to make you happy in school, and to secure for you in future life
such a measure of enjoyment as can fall to the share of one over whose
prospects in another world there hangs so gloomy a cloud.
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